True Power (JC 8)
by Jedi Carpet
Summary: This is the conclusion of my timeline of 8 stories. The Jedi have been fighting a losing battle against the combined forces of the expansive Bogan empire and the resurrected Black Sun and decide to strike back at the heart of the alliance. Rated M for explicit awesomeness.
1. Prologue

Disclaimers:

\- Rated M for references to adult themes and suggestions. There is no explicit content. (You really don't want me to write that anyway.)  
\- I write for fun, not for profit (well, not this stuff) and the only character I claim any stake in is Eriana :)

A/N: I'm seven months behind schedule, but I'm finally back. Here's the conclusion of what I started about 9 years ago. I hope you enjoy it. If you haven't a clue what's going on, you might want to go to my profile and start reading according to the stories listed there...this is part 9 of a series of stories I've written in a post-NJO chronology that basically stems from the idea that the people who created everything canon after the NJO really didn't quite understand the concept of sustainable character development.

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(Brutally honest and sarcastic) **Character List** (that I threw together at the last second because I figured I might need one or something like that):

Jacen Solo, Jedi Master that the Jedi don't really trust because he ran away for five years and learned a whole bunch of stuff they don't know, so they just call him Jedi Knight as an insult or something like that.

Jaina Solo, Total dumbass former Jedi Master that went off the deep end and disappeared to parts unknown. Twin sister to Jacen.

Eriana Fostenon, really hot blonde, amazing former Jensaarai Defender that took over a pirate organization and converted it into her own private military force (partially) to show the Jedi how big of pansies they all are.

Lowbacca, Jedi Master Wookiee that doesn't need a droid anymore because everyone understands him, right?

Ami Jade, discarded love child of Luke and Mara that somehow got her grandmother's last name as a first name and has started learning how to become a Jedi after years of service with Talon Karrde

Luke Skywalker, former Jedi Master who has become a bitter old cripple that hates everyone because he's like Batman after meeting Bane

Leia Organa, widowed former president of the galaxy who is now old and doesn't known what the hell to do with herself, so she's taking care of her pain-in-the-ass brother and her grandchildren.

Mara Jade. Honestly, don't bother reading this for her.

Ben Skywalker, NOT Kylo Ren.

Tenel Ka, former Queen of Hapes and wife of Jacen Solo that lost an arm but I figured out a cool way of having her grow it back and now I actually have a good use for her, so I thought I'd throw her back in for a change instead of leaving her behind somewhere.

Wedge Antilles, Admiral of the Jedi Coalition fleet because nobody knew what they were doing enough to take his place and his wife guilt tripped him into it.

Random people in Mandalorian armour - read my second and fifth stories.

Kenth Hamner, the guy who took over for Luke because Luke's a grumpy old fart.

Kam Sulstar, the guy who runs the Jedi Academy and moved out of the Jedi Temple because Luke's been a dick to everyone, but he won't admit that if you asked him.

Darth Titan, the mysterious bad guy who is really bad and does bad things. No, he doesn't wear a Kylo Ren mask. No, he's not Anakin Solo. No, he's not R2D2's lovebot. Seriously, stop asking. Just read the damned story, will ya?

I'm sure there are others but I have stuff I should be doing...

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It is a dark time for the Jedi Coalition.

With the passing of Darth Krayt, his successor has begun leading the war with an unparalleled lust for destruction.

Warriors of the Bogan Empire have destroyed or occupied dozens of systems in mere weeks. Among the first to fall, the Corellian sector's shipyards were turned into slave-operated factories to churn out weapons of destruction while Centerpoint Station could be repaired and re-armed.

The allies of the Jedi have gone into deep hiding, forced to disappear to bide their time.

While the Jedi find small ways to fight back, corruption creeps in through the cracks between fronts as the Black Sun expands their reaches and allies itself with the Bogan Empire.

The strongest opponents to Darth Titan's reign of terror is the alliance between the Black Vornskrs, the Jedi, and the remnant of the Republic forces led by Wedge Antillies.

But the strength of the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link…

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25 years after the Battle of Yavin, two months before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of Belkadan...

"Wanna hear a joke?"

"Why-y-y-y do you even bother asking anymore?" Jaina Solo asked, playfully throwing a stone at her goofy twin brother. "We _know_ you're going to say it anyway."

Lowie, the loyal Wookiee friend of the twins', chuffed his own response, which Em-teedee immediately piped up to translate.

"Master Lowbacca would like to inquire if this joke will contain sufficient humour to inspire true laughter," the miniaturized translation droid piped up.

"Hey," Jacen held a hand over his heart, feigning pain from his friend and sister's comments. "My jokes _are_ funny. You just need to learn how to appreciate them."

"I, for one," Tenel Ka said, taking Jacen's hand in her own and offering him a rare tiny smile that made her grey eyes seem to twinkle in the evening light of the setting Yavin star. "Would like to hear your joke."

"Quick, Jacen, you'd better marry her," Jaina said with mock seriousness. "If she wants to hear your jokes, she's a keeper."

Jacen looked back at Tenel Ka and their eyes locked together in a moment of trepidation. After three years of training at the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, the four of them had been through some amazing adventures and had become the closest of friends. And, sure, Jacen and Tenel Ka had started a tentative relationship. But...marriage? The thought made both their hearts jump. As always, Tenel Ka recovered first and hid her exhilaration at the prospect of making a sacred commitment to her old friend behind an emotionless expression.

"I believe we are too young to seek marriage at this time," Tenel Ka said to Jaina, deflecting the comment calmly to protect her friend. "Perhaps in a few years."

"A few years..." Jaina said wistfully, looking out into the distance and already forgetting to take another playful jab at her brother. The view from the top of the giant Massassi temple that stretched to the horizon in all directions never ceased to draw Jaina's attention, and she knew she would soon departing Yavin IV to start the next stage of her training to become a Jedi Knight. Her eyes slowly scanned the beautiful forest, the big fluffy clouds tinted with orange sunlight that hovered above them, and the fading yellow of the sky, trying to soak it in as if she would never see it again. She finally spoke the question that had been rolling around in her mind since Uncle Luke had told them they would soon have a graduation ceremony. "What assignments do you think we'll get next week?"

Lowbacca barked his response.

"Master Lowbacca said he would like to return to Kashyyyk to serve his people," Em-teedee translated, hovering around the Wookiee's head on his repulsor jets. "But he suspects he will have to apprentice with a Jedi Master for a few years."

"I asked Uncle Luke this morning and he told me he wants us to get some field experience with a Master or Knight before we get our own assignments," Jacen said, staring out in somewhat the same direction Jaina was. Still holding Tenel Ka's hand, he tried to hide the fluttering feeling in his chest from his twin bond with his sister while still enjoying the physical contact with the amazingly beautiful young Hapan princess. "Who do you think you'll get? I'm hoping for Corran Horn and an assignment exploring the Unknown Regions. Could you _imagine_ the exotic creatures out there?"

"I think Aunt Mara would be fun to learn from," Jaina said, trying to not feed her brother's fascination with every critter that existed. "She knows _so_ much about espionage and infiltration. But Uncle Luke is the best pilot in the galaxy. I kinda want to join the military and be a starfighter pilot. Think Rogue Squadron would take me?"

Lowie growled a comment about her becoming a Rogue based on ego alone, which Em-TeeDee did not get the chance to translate over the laughs of the young Jedi.

"My grandmother requires me to return to Hapes and complete my training to become queen," Tenel Ka said bitterly when the others had stopped laughing. "This prospect has left me considering a career change to becoming an exotic dancer on Nar Shadda."

Lowie, Jaina, and Jacen each turned to look at Tenel Ka with identical looks of disbelief on their faces.

"Perhaps _my_ jokes are not funny?"

Everyone finally laughed and, as one, fell to a solemn silence. They all seemed to come to the realization at the same time that they were enjoying what would probably be one of their last moments together as a group of Jedi Apprentices.

"Wherever we end up," Jacen said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "I know we'll always be great friends. They say friendship is never lost; it is only thrown away."

"And don't forget, we're all going to be Jedi, too," Jaina reminded him with an easy smile as she turned to look out at the beautiful orange glow of Yavin rising on the horizon. "I think we're all destined to be great Jedi."

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 _About 16 years later..._

The sunlight invaded her dream, gently pushing her out of a fond old memory from a lifetime ago. As she woke up she became more aware of her surroundings. A dingy hotel room...bright sunlight filtering in through the transparisteel window...clothes scattered across the floor...some guy lying beside her...

She sighed to herself and sat up in the bed, the sheets falling to her lap. She looked at the tattooed back of the snoring guy beside her and shook her head, which caused waves of disorientation to follow.

 _Frakin' brandy_ , Jaina thought as she reached over and picked her underwear off the floor. She pulled it on and noticed the bite mark on her left breast seemed to be healing up from the rambunctious night a few days before.

She followed the trail of her pants, bra, shirt, and jacket to the door, putting each item of clothing on as she went as quietly as she could, stopping only to swipe some credits and glass phials from the man's jacket that had been discarded beside hers the night before. She glanced back at the man, trying to remember his name. She gave up after a few seconds, finally opening the door with a gentle click.

"Jamie?" the groggy voice of the mystery man asked, but Jaina closed the door behind her. She took five steps down the hall and broke into a run toward the lift, tears streaming down her face. She slammed her fist against the call button and paced impatiently for the eternity that it took for the lift to arrive. As soon as the doors began to open she threw herself into the cart, pressed the button for the ground floor and leaned her back against the wall. As the doors closed she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor sobbing uncontrollably.

With shaking hands she reached into her jacket and pulled out one of the thin glass phials, popped the top off and hesitated for a second, staring at the blurry yellow fluid through her tears. Some part of her knew just how bad Death Sticks were. Hell, she had been told about the risks and dangers her entire life and even warned friends off them. But the pain in her heart was too much. She lost the will to resist and drank the fluid, letting the tingling sensation fill her body as the cool fluid travelled down her throat.

By the time the elevator reached the promenade she was almost sure nothing had been bothering her.

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" _Bitch!_ " Jacen exclaimed and stumbled to his knees in mid step and landing on his hands. He placed a hand over his heart and bracing himself against the pain, breathing heavily to try controlling the pain. Every time she took one of those damned Death Sticks, _he_ got the full blast of what she was avoiding like a blinding ray of light shone through a lens. Unlike normal physical pain, the spikes of sheer agony from their twin bond staggered him like nothing else had since his torture at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong. Part of him did not know what was worse – the fact that she was taking Death Sticks, or that she had been getting hammered and sleeping around every night for the past few months. Certainly the drug-assisted encounter she had led herself into three nights before that was still burned into his mind with startling clarity was not a high point of Jaina's life. He thought the fact that she let herself get gang raped would have snapped some sense into her, but it only seemed to drive her to greater levels of stupidity and drag him to deeper levels of resentment.

"Jacen? Ya 'k there?"

"I'm fine," Jacen grunted, waving Rjon off. He sat up on his ankles to rest for a moment and bring his heavy breathing under control. Part of him did not know what reality was his – if he was sobbing in a lift on some shavit-hole of a city, or if he was chest deep in a miserable swamp that seemed to glow yellow from all directions. When he closed his eyes he saw the blurry view of a lift, so he opened them looked around to take in the Force-forsaken swamp. Everything in sight, from the mist emanating from the mucky water to the green moss on the trees and the buzzing wildlife around him was dangerous and deadly to humans, but seeing it gave him the focus to push some amount of Jaina's reality out of his. If it was not for the full suits of vaccuum-tight Mandalorian battle armour separating him from the wilderness, Jacen was not sure he could survive long in the hostile environment, even with the Force as his ally. He took a deep breath and let it out, pushing as much of his twin's presence away from his mind as he could. "Heartburn. Ate too many burritos last night."

"I know that feeling," Trigger said, and followed with an ear-popping belch that made everyone except Jacen reach to their ears and groan. "But those were some damn good burritos."

Jacen shakily pulled himself to his feet and watched for a moment as the swamp muck drained off his armour to reveal the painted pattern of Jedi robes, and the tributes to his family members on his right bicep. Corellian Bloodstripes for his dad, a red and white strip matching his mom's lightsaber, a violet and white one for his each of his brother and sister, and finally, a turquoise one for his wife, Tenel Ka. Differences among them were that Han and Anakin's names were written across their tribute in gold lettering in honour of their sacrifices, while Jaina's tribute had been roughly scratched off with a knife in honour of the fact that he no longer considered her to be his sister. Only the bands dedicated to his mom and wife had remained unscathed, as if to remind him of how much he had lost from his life and how little had left. He finally looked up and consulted his HUD, focusing on the tracking signal still flashing brightly on the horizon, bracketed by range and signal strength information.

"Looks like Lanos is only another three hundred metres ahead," Jacen said. "Still no signs of what happened to him."

"Nope," Trigger said and hefted his heavy repeating blaster. "But I'm aimin' to blow the shavit out of it, whatever it was. Nobody takes the old man down on my watch."

"I'm ready for some action," Lana said, priming her blaster rifle with flick of the safety switch.

"That's me girl," Rjon replied. "Let's get our boys back."

"Absolutely," Jacen said dangerously, letting his anger toward his sister fuel his rage over the capture of the rest of his team. He pulled his lightsabers from his belt and slammed his thumbs against the activation plates at the same time, lighting the green blade focused by the Corusca gem he had pulled out of Yavin's atmosphere so many years ago and the violet blade focused by the Yuuzhan Vong lambent his brother had incorporated into his lightsaber not long before he had died. "Let's see if you can keep up."

"Game on, kid!" Trigger shouted, and they ran into battle.

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The sound of soft rubber wheels rolling over marble floors echoed through the empty corridors of the Jedi Temple eerily. All of the students had abandoned the grandiose Temple, opting to live a simpler life on the surface of their protector, Zonama Sekot, as they learned the ways of the Jedi. Gone were the younglings running through the halls, playing and laughing as they practiced their Jedi skills. Gone were the Jedi Knights, greeting each other after returning home from challenging missions putting fires out across the galaxy. Gone were the Jedi Masters, solemnly contemplating their next moves to fight the spread of dark forces across the galaxy.

Only a sole Jedi remained, pushing his wheel chair along those quiet hallways. The wheels squeaked with every push, offsetting the dull rolling sound with the odd noise that seemed to echo just a bit differently through the halls. The echo of every little sound reminded Luke how much the Jedi had lost. Everything he fought for since the fateful day that two dysfunctional droids wandered into his life on Tattooine seemed to be for nothing – the Jedi Order was fractured, his friends were being killed off, and his marriage had been evaporated by lies. But, for Luke Skywalker, having recently been paralized from the waist down, the worst part of it was knowing he couldn't do anything about it.

Luke rolled into an observation balcony and pressed a button on the wall to extract the armour plate that would normally protect the Temple from the vacuum of space. As the plate drew itself back, the sunlight filtered in and lit up the grizzled face of the old Jedi Master. Scars from an encounter with a Wompa on Hoth long ago were accented by faint white lines in his grey beard, but showed little age compared to the weight his pale blue eyes carried. He rolled up to the railing, locked the wheels and pulled himself standing as he had almost every day since arriving on Zonama Sekot. Only his control over the Force kept his legs locked, allowing him to lean against the railing and look at the sight below him that somehow both broke his heart and gave him the only solace he could find.

Far below, Luke saw the huts that had been built by the young Jedi students. They were the budding new generation, learning how to carry on the traditions of a thousand of generations of Jedi before them, and the future peace keepers of the galaxy. They were also the ones left to carry on that tradition while Luke's students, both of his generation and the next, fought a brutal war to protect innocent beings across the galaxy as well as the precious few Jedi younglings and initiates left. The war had cost him his legs, his friends, and his family. With a deep breath, he reflected that he had little left to lose.

"Master Luke!" a condescending voice rang out, followed by the growing sound of whining servomotors. "You know you shouldn't be standing. The medical droids…"

"I'm fine, Threepio," Luke interrupted the droid and awkwardly turned to face the eternally perplexed-looking droid. "I can't see anything from the chair."

"But, Master Luke, why not use the hoverchair Mistress Leia brought you?" Threepio inquired, not noticing the twitch of annoyance that flicked through Luke's shoulders. "The chair would raise you…"

"I said I'm fine, Threepio," Luke said softly, controlling his voice to cover up his annoyance by reminding himself that the prissy old droid was merely following his programming.

"Luke!" Leia's voice rang from down the hall, and her fast footsteps echoed as they approached him. He grimaced knowing that whatever scolding he just got from his droid would be nothing compared to what was coming up. She reached his side and grabbed his arm. "What do you think you're doing? Your operation is in half an hour! You need to rest. Threepio, help me get him back in the chair."

Luke used the Force to move his legs and take a step back, easing himself into the chair without help from the droid, but Leia only let go of him when she was satisfied he was safely seated with the belt fastened around his waist. She grabbed the handles and began pushing him back into the depths of the empty Jedi Temple.

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The thick black cloak served a dual purpose. The main purpose was to hide her identity from everyone, including the guards that escorted her, but the other was to leave a trail of mystery behind her. Members of the crew might question who she was and why she was meeting with the Grand Admiral, but this face-to-face meeting was essential. Some meetings just had to be done in person.

As she entered the conference room, the four guards waited outside until the door closed. Grand Admiral Wedge Antillies smiled to himself, knowing how ineffective the guards would be if the woman underneath the cloak wanted to cause trouble – he had seen Jedi in action before, and he knew this one was particularly dangerous. Green lights around the door frames of all four entrances to the conference room turned red, indicating the room was secure. Nothing short of Wedge's personal command code – or a lightsaber – would open the doors anytime soon.

She finally lifted the thick dark hood off her head and let it fall down to hang off her shoulders, revealing a pale face and bright green eyes framed with long blond hair that remained tucked in behind the robe. She shrugged off the robe to reveal a simple white short sleeved shirt and black pants, as well as two lightsabers held in holsters secured to her thighs. Wedge reflected that, despite spending years around Jedi, he had never seen a Jedi with lightsaber holsters. But Eriana Fostenon was far from the typical Jedi. He did not know her entire history, but he knew she was a close personal friend of Jacen Solo's, had once beat Luke Skywalker in a lightsaber duel, and was the leader of the Black Vornskrs pirates. Those facts alone made Wedge want to know more about the history of this enigmatic woman, but too leery to ask. The tall blonde woman laid her cloak across the back of a chair before taking a seat on the next chair over from it and smiled with uncharacteristic friendliness for the type of person one would expect to be leading the most feared pirate organization the galaxy had seen in decades.

"Hi everyone. Sorry I'm late. The admirals have been too efficient at their jobs and I had to move up one of my plans to give them something new to blow up."  
"I'm glad you could join us, Eriana," Wedge said warmly. He turned and gestured to the other people in the room – his wife, Iella, Danni Quee, Corran Horn, and Kenth Hamner smiled back at her. "We were just getting started anyway. Danni?"

The short blond astrophysicist stood up and activated the holodisplay built into the centre of the long rectangular table they all sat at. The lights dimmed automatically and a diagram appeared showing dozens of wire diagrams depicting various ships in their fleet. Most of the diagrams had two numbers beside it, one in blue and one in red, but the largest five classes of ship had a third number in green beside the first one.

"This is the entire Jedi Coalition fleet," Danni said. "The blue numbers indicate how many operational ships we have. The red numbers indicate how many ships of each class are not combat worthy, either by design or from damage. The green indicate those that have been outfitted with our superlaser or planetary shielding technology."

Wedge ran a quick count in his head despite already having memorized the numbers, and came up with a number around eight thousand, ignoring anything smaller than a Nebulon-B frigate and anything in red. The green numbers barely reached fifty.

"I've got about five thousand ships to add to that," Eriana said. "Over half of those are _Piranha_ -class ships. Don't let the size fool you – with the right crew we've been able to disable Mark I Impstars with just three of them. They're good little ships."

"Any chance I could have a squadron of those?" Corran asked. "I wouldn't mind seeing what the CLF could do with ships like that."

Wedge clenched his jaw in irritation at Corran's request, but quickly pushed it aside. A quick glance from Eriana made him think about how annoying it could be to work with Jedi when they could sense emotions of people across the room, like how a Sullustian could see a signal light in the dark from miles away.

"I can have a dozen ready to ship out by tomorrow," Eriana said, pulling a scratch pad of flimsy from her pants pocket and making a note to deliver the ships to the Corellian Liberation Force. "I think you're really going to like the new stealth paint that Danni developed that reduces their sensor profile by eighty percent. Is there anywhere in particular you want them delivered?"

"Can you discuss this at a later time?" Wedge interjected, and nodded to Danni. The young astrophysicist seemed to remember that she was in the middle of a presentation with a start, completely missing the glare that Wedge was getting from Corran.

"Yes, so, um, as I was saying," Danni continued as she flicked to the next screen, showing the composition of the enemy fleet. "We have almost as many superlaser equipped ships as they do, but overall, they have over fifty thousand ships. Even if we could join forces with the Chiss, who we know they're still recovering from the attack on their homeworld, the Bogans have enough ships to keep a defensive line and still hunt for us."

"Not to mention they control five major shipyards that are putting out new ships every week, and we have half of one patching together the few ships we have," Iella pointed out.

"So the question is," Wedge said. "How do we win this war?"

"Do we have locations on the _Obsidian_ -class ships?" Eriana asked, referring to the giant double-parallelogram arrow-shaped warships that had decimated virtually everything in their paths.

Danni flicked through a couple settings before updating the projector, showing a map of the galaxy with about twenty yellow dots scattered around it, except for several dots that made up one big dot over Coruscant.

"This is where we think they are," Danni said. "This intel was gathered almost a week ago by Ghent, Jedi Master Lowbacca and Artoo-Detoo. The three of them together hacked into the Bogan subnet and were able to extract some ship movement data. As you can see, five ships are hovering around Coruscant, two at Corellia, and the rest are scattered at various shipyards and with a few strike forces that are hunting us. Based on several factors we were able to extract from the data set, we think these ones…"

Danni tweaked the display to turn fifteen of the dots red, leaving five of them green.

"Aren't going anywhere, and the rest could be anywhere. The red ones are covering the shipyards and other planets of interest."

"What's this one?" Kenth asked, pointing to a planet in an area of little galactic importance marked by a red dot.

"Shumogi," Eriana said before Danni could reply. Her eyes narrowed and she stood up to get a better look, as if she was questioning her own assessment.

"That's right," Danni confirmed. "How did you know that?"

"My fleet blew up an _Obsidian_ there," Eriana replied in a somewhat distant voice. "That's a data site for the government to back up all sensitive data off Coruscant, otherwise it's a pretty unremarkable system. There is literally one inhabited spot on the planet and it is a reinforced bunker ten kilometres under a nearly solid iron-ore mountain. Not that I'm doubting you, but how do you know that is a permanent station for the ship? That's a very odd place to risk putting a second ship after one was destroyed."

Danni consulted her notes a moment before answering. "According to the data set, the ship arrived there almost three months ago and it has no orders to do anything but stay there."

"I'll send Katarn and Korr to look into it," Kenth Hamner said, making a note on his datapad.

"Let's have them work with Ghent," Eriana said, sitting down again and scrawling on her notepad. "I'll have him scour the transmission to look for anything abnormal."

"I want to send a message to Darth Titan," Wedge said, interrupting the side conversation and bringing the meeting back to focus. "We need to take Coruscant."

To their credit, nobody looked at him like he was wearing a stupid hat – they looked back at the five red dots glowing above Coruscant.

"We're going to need a hell of a strategy to bring it together," Kenth mused. "Something new they haven't seen before."

"Have we used the superlasers yet?" Corran asked.

"No," Wedge said. "Every ship with the refit is still here in the deep core. Very little information has left here. They probably know we're working on it, but, if our efforts to stifle communication have worked, they shouldn't know we have any ships operational."

"We could bait one or two of the ships out," Eriana suggested. "Give them a nice juicy target to hit and slam them with the superlasers when they arrive."

"If we have twenty ships, why don't we go in full force?" Kenth asked. "With four superlasers per target, and it'll be a short battle."

"That was our first thought," Iella said. "But there are hundreds of other battleships, plus a lot of civilian transportation, that we'd have to shoot around. Coruscant is swarming with activity. Our best simulations show a five percent probability of under a hundred thousand civilian casualties. With the tactics we've seen, Titan is likely to start blasting civilian ships to clear a path."

"So we need a trap," Eriana said. "And a good trap needs some very desirable bait. I volunteer."

"What makes you think you'll be good enough bait?" Corran asked.

A sly smile grew on Eriana's face as she returned Corran's glare from across the table. "Just wait and see what target we hit next."

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A/N Hope you liked it :) I'll be posting on Fridays. Assuming I remember. As always, comments are always appreciated.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Jacen sprinted into the proximity of Lanos's transmitter and did a threat assessment at top speed. Two heavy blaster cannons were already firing at him, but he was running too fast for them to track. He threw his lightsabers at them, easily taking off the gunners' heads before calling the hilts back to his hands. Past them were dozens of soldiers in full body armour aiming weapons at Lanos, Parmis, Blade and Squeak, the members of Jacen's special ops team. One of those soldiers, obviously the leader, held his hand out and began to say something.

But Jacen didn't slow down.

He body checked the leader at full speed with Force enhanced power and sent the body soaring several metres against a rock face where it bounced off and came tumbling to the ground.

Without pause, Jacen jumped up and twisted into a spin, throwing his lightsabers a second time, sending them around in an arc that bisected each of the confused soldiers, who clearly hadn't been given orders for this scenario.

Trigger trotted up to Jacen's side and watched as the last of the bodies fell.

"Could've left some for us."

Jacen caught his lightsabers and returned them to his belt, grunting in response.

"You guys okay?" Jacen asked Lanos as he helped the old Mandalorian to his feet. Lana, Rjon and Trigger helped the others up and the group went to break into a lock box where the Mandalorians' weapons were being kept.

"Only our pride has been scuffed," Lanos said. "These guys are Black Sun."

"If Black Sun knows we're here, we'll have to evacuate," Jacen said. "Frak. We just got the shield generator to blend into the background radiation of the planet, too."

"So that's why you took so long to rescue us," Lanos said.

"That and Trigger wouldn't get his ass out of bed."

"Digesting twenty five burritos isn't easy!"

Lanos merely shook his head, but accepted his blaster rifle and grenade bandoleer from Trigger. Jacen turned towards the other Mandalorians and pointed to a stack of computer equipment near where the Black Sun leader's body had landed. Lanos's mission had been to investigate some unusual radio frequencies they detected not far from the new base they had established for the rebellion on this miserable planet.

"Squeak, did you get a chance to go through that stuff?"

"Yeah, and they know you're here," Squeak replied.

"Damn, we're going to have to…wait, _what_ did you say?"

"They know _you're_ here."

"They've been looking for me specifically?" Jacen asked.

"Have you seen the bounty on your head?" Trigger asked and kicked over one of the bodies that Jacen had cut in half. "Apparently you're hard to kill."

"Squeak, take another look at that equipment," Jacen ordered and walked up to the unconscious leader, still protected by his suit of armour underneath the layer of swamp. "Make sure it isn't transmitting and download whatever useful information you can. Then permanently disable it. Check if they sent a message. We'll get whatever else we need from this guy."

Using one arm and the Force, Jacen hoisted the lone Black Sun survivor onto his shoulder and set off back towards the base.

This was not turning out to be a good day.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Stuck about fifty light years inside the unknown regions, the swamp planet of Warshan had been named after an explorer whose sole claim to fame was finding this planet and transmitting its location back to the Jedi Order before experiencing drive problems and crashing to his death. The information about Warshan sat in the Jedi archives for approximately fifty years before being buried in the Great Holocron for about another four hundred years before Jacen had found the report.

The fact that Black Sun had found them did not speak well for the security of the rebellion.

After the decontamination cycle had completed, Jacen slammed the airlock door open and dropped the still unconscious body of the Black Sun squad leader on the ground, knowing that someone else would take care of locking it up for him. He had bigger concerns.

On his way to the command centre he removed his helmet and got a full blast of the smell that had been building up on the steaming hot base after five days without operational showers. He scratched his scalp, ruffling his hair and making it stick up wildly after being compressed by the helmet. It seemed the longer he went without washing it, the more of its own mind it developed. While he could have retreated to the facilities on his ship, the _Solo Quest_ , he decided to live in the conditions that everyone else on the base was subject to as an example to the others. If Jacen Solo - well known to have grown up in the luxury of high life on Coruscant - could put up with the worst conditions the base could throw at him, everyone else seemed a little less inclined to complain.

He entered the control room with his boots clanging loudly on the metal deck plate and caught the eye of the base commander, a pretty-faced dark haired woman over ten years younger than him who looked as though she hadn't slept in a week. Alex Lonel, a native of Commonor, was crouched over the main console in the middle of the room wearing only a thin loose tank top and very short shorts. Like everyone else on the base, except for a few of the reptilian species, she was dripping with sweat as if she had just run a marathon on the bright side of Ryloth. Jacen felt that she was well in over her head as base commander, but she was loyal, hardworking and genuinely likeable. And since people like that were proving difficult to find, people like that were getting handed jobs with far greater responsibilities than they were qualified for.

"Still no luck with the cooling system?" Jacen asked, content to still be wearing his self-temperature regulating Mandalorian armour. He fought the urge to put his helmet back on, but instead used the Force to filter the air. With no other Jedi on the base, at least nobody would notice him doing _that_.

"It's forty degrees inside and thirty outside," Alex groaned. "And we couldn't open a window if we had any. The computers on the sensor grid are putting out way more heat than we can handle, but if we turn it off we'll be blind. At least the Chizori are happy."

"I need a secure line to Tenel Ka," Jacen changed topic abruptly. "Route it to the office please."

Jacen turned and walked away from Alex toward the small shared office connected to the main control room. Jacen really only used one thing in the office – the secure holo connection for talking to his wife, Lowbacca or Eriana. Everything else, from the messy stack of datacards and flimsy on the table to the collection of furry bobble-head Wookiees on the filing cabinet, belonged to Alex. Since his role was to oversee everything and her role was to organize it, he decided she could have priority use of the office.

He put his helmet on top of a stack of flimsy on the desk and waited patiently until Tenel Ka's face appeared on the flat panel display.

"Black Sun found us again," Jacen said without preamble.

"The third base this week." Tenel Ka's shoulders drooped with exhaustion at the sound of more bad news. "Did they send word off world?"

"Squeak is going over the data now. He'll let me know. I'm going to start evacuation procedures. I suggest we quarantine everyone on this base to evaluate for leaks."

"Where might we do that?" Tenel Ka asked bitterly.

"I…I don't know," Jacen muttered and sat back against the desk behind him. His shoulders sagged with dejection and it took him a moment to look up at her. They both looked at each other's weary eyes knowing they were thinking the same thing; This rebellion was off to a rough start. "Maybe we can put them all on a Star Destroyer and call it a mobile base?"

The sound of the door opening brought his attention away from the display for a moment. Squeak was at the door, still wearing his full armour.

"They sent a message and it was confirmed received an hour ago," Squeak said, his voice artificially deepened by the vocal processor in his armour.

"Thanks, Squeak," Jacen said softly. "Please tell Alex to initiate evacuation procedures immediately. Move the smaller stuff first…"

"And the bigger stuff last." Squeak finished, too familiar with the evacuation procedure. "Right away."

Jacen nodded to dismiss him and turned his attention back to Tenel Ka.

"This is the tenth base we've had to burn. They've killed over a hundred of our best operatives, alerted Darth Titan to the locations of our people and bases, and we're no closer to finding out how they're doing it. Something does not make sense here. How can they be only one step behind us all the time, and why are they working with Titan if Krayt wanted them wiped out?"

"There must be an infiltrator," Tenel Ka said. "It is the only explanation. I will find a command ship for you to transfer…"

"No, I've had it," Jacen said, the fire in his eyes relighting. "I'm going after them. We've been working too hard to keep getting foiled like this. I'm going to find the leader of the Black Sun and teach him to keep his nose out of Jedi affairs."

"No, my husband," Tenel Ka said, equally dangerously. " _You_ are not. _We_ are."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Eriana's shuttle dropped out of hyperspace not far from the shattered remains of the planet Alderaan. Destroyed over forty years before, the large chunks of rock that once made up the beautiful peaceful planet had settled into a slowly expanding asteroid belt around the star Aldera. Also known as The Graveyard, the system was deemed too grisly for anyone to make a base out of it, keeping most space traffic away from the remains of Grand Moff Tarkin's attempt to prove the Empire's might.

But that suited Eriana just fine. After all, she didn't want anyone to know that there were three thousand Black Vornskr ships ready to pounce on their next target sitting just outside the outer perimeter of the Graveyard.

As her shuttle raced towards her command ship, an old Victory-class Star Destroyer that had been heavily upgraded to suit life among the largest pirate organization the galaxy had seen in decades, Eriana received a transmission from Admiral Cooper indicating the readiness of the fleet and her operatives. By the time she had docked and reached the command deck, the final preparations had been made.

"Colonel Harrington, your final status report, please."

The man of slight build wearing a leather jacket and no visible sign of rank, save the gold ring on his finger, instantly held out a datapad for her to grab, but she merely glanced at the page displayed on it, preferring to hear the short version. She noticed that nothing had a red highlight on it, which would have indicated a critical problem, and only two minor issues were highlighted in yellow.

"The plan will execute in thirty hours, five hours into the night shift," Harrington said. "We leave in twenty nine."

"Send my regards to Admiral Cooper for a job well done," Eriana said. "Where am I needed?"

If Harrington thought it weird that the leader of the pirate organization would be asking for orders, he did not let it show. He immediately glanced at his data pad, his eyes darting to the two yellow issues.

"Drop ship seven-nine-two on the _Wild Rancor_ is light on personnel from injuries sustained on Rothan. It's one of Stragoron's ships," Harrington suggested, knowing how much she liked leading troops into battle. "Other than that we're pretty well set. I don't think fixing a jammed turbolaser track is your sort of thing."

"Seven-nine-two it is," Eriana said and wiggled the Corusca gem ring off her finger. "I'll swap out to a copper ring for this one. Activate my Dantooine new recruit dossier and assign me to that unit as a ground troop. Please let General Stragoron know as well. Double encrypt that transmission."

"You're leaving your lightsabers behind?" Harrington asked, treading slightly out of the typical chain of command Eriana liked to keep in place.

While Eriana's history as a Jensaarai and her association with the Jedi was a secret, with her command crew as one of the few groups in the know, it didn't stop her from almost cringing at his mention of her past life.

"I am perfectly capable of firing a blaster, Colonel," Eriana said with a playfully snarky tone. "Besides, I want to see how the troops act without the brass watching over their shoulders."

"As you command, Overlord," Harrington said with a smile. "I'll requisition your transfer immediately."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen pushed a stack of ten crates up against another stack in the cargo hold of the old transport ship and hopped out of the way as a load lifter came in with the next set of five crates. The loading bay had become a hub of activity as everyone enacted the evacuation orders, hoping to keep ahead of the Bogan fleet they knew was on its way. By their best estimates they could expect an attack within three to seven days. Drawing from his pragmatic Jedi training, Jacen ordered the base to be cleared out of all critical equipment in two days.

"You're not really leaving us, are you?" Alex's hurt voice diverted Jacen's attention on his way to get the next stack of crates as he exited the cargo hold. He turned a sharp ninety degrees and stopped in front of her, using the moment of the turn to slow down. He felt at least two beings glare at him angrily for taking a break, knowing that the Jedi was working like two load lifters on his own. With all the activity, the cargo bay was an easy fifty degrees and almost everyone was dripping with sweat, if they weren't already collapsed against a wall with a canteen in hand trying to recover from heat exhaustion. Even the reptilians and the load lifters were moving sluggishly from overheating, but using the Force Jacen was able to keep moving at nearly full Jedi speed, which was easily faster than most sentients in the best of conditions. It also didn't hurt that, after almost freezing to death on Ryloth when he was fifteen, Jacen _liked_ the heat.

Finally stopped for a moment, Jacen could feel drops of sweat trickling down his head and his light white shirt was practically glued to his body from the moisture, accentuating his muscles. Alex looked no better with the spare strands of hair that had escaped her pony tail plastered to the sides of her face and neck and her dark green tank top likewise glued to her torso from being soaked through. He pulled a canteen from his hip and took a swig before speaking to her.

"Of course I am," Jacen said. "And I'd appreciate if you didn't speak so loudly about it."

"But we _need_ you," Alex insisted, but dropped her voice. " _I_ need you. I wouldn't know how to do half the stuff around here if you weren't coaching me. If there is a mole around here I need your help to find it. I don't know the first thing about finding spies! I studied accounting for two terms before my university was bombed. Running a base isn't anything like doing a tax return."

"Put a lockdown on all communications and keep an eye out for odd radiation signatures or radio frequencies," Jacen suggested. "Or set up a relay station for all calls to buffer communications on your approval. That'll slow them down and maybe give you a chance to identify them."

Jacen started to turn back to his work but Alex grabbed his arm. "See? This is exactly why we need you. I'd never think of that."

"My mission is more important," Jacen insisted, and grabbed her shoulder. "Lanos and his team is going to go with you to get you set up at the new location. He can guide you. That old fossil is among the best of the Mandalorians."

"He's mean. He called me a _baarpir cyar'ika,_ whatever the hell that is. It sounds like a disease."

"That's actually a compliment," Jacen said, mentally using his limited understanding of Mando'a to roughly translate the words to ' _sweaty sweetheart'_ in Basic. "Well, mostly."

Jacen looked over her shoulder at the gold, blue, red and black suits of Mandalorian armour that were loading another transport, moving like six menacing cogs in a well-oiled machine. He looked into her eyes and applied the Force to relax her, like he did with the animals he had kept in his room at the Jedi Academy so long ago. "Alex, you're doing a good job. You're organized, you're hard working, and you're learning. Don't beat yourself up because we were found. They got past all of us. Time to move along. Better luck next time. Just learn from what we did wrong here."

"Jacen…" Alex began reaching towards him and Jacen abruptly cut off his use of the Force. With the heat exhaustion, perhaps he made her a little _too_ relaxed.

"Look at the bright side," Jacen said and stepped back to return to work, ignoring her dejected expression. "If I'm gone, they'll be looking for me somewhere else, which gives you an advantage."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

She was never much of a Jedi. A life of politics and raising a family had left her with little time to pursue the ancient arts that had made her brother and her children famous. Yes, she had built a lightsaber and for a time had traveled with a master, but with the renewed state of war, the loss of her husband and her age had all started to catch up with her. However, even with her limited training, Leia Organa-Solo could sense the anguish her twin brother felt as he bobbed in the bacta tank. The surgery to implant cybernetic relays into his spine to been successful, but the medical droids were not satisfied with his post-surgery preliminary test results. In short, Luke's chances of walking again were very slim.

"Aunt Leia?"

Leia turned to face the girl that had very recently come into their lives, the thirty-one year old daughter of Luke and Mara that had been kept hidden until a few months before. The red-headed girl's green eyes flicked uncomfortably from Leia to Luke, and back to Leia.

"Ami, come in," Leia gestured for her niece to come stand beside her. When Ami had reached her side, Leia put an arm around her waist, and Ami put one around her shoulder. They stood together, watching Luke in silence. This close to her niece, Leia could sense the younger woman's emotional turmoil.

"I…I could feel his pain from the village," Ami said. "So could Kam. He let me leave."

"It doesn't look good," Leia admitted. "But he won't be worse than he was."

"But will he see it that way?" Ami asked. "He's been…"

"Understandably distraught," Leia finished as diplomatically as should could, releasing her niece and crossing the room to sit down on a chair.

"I was going to say 'a cranky old pain in the ass,'" Ami said, crossing her arms. "But that works."

Leia snorted a laugh and shook her head. "You certainly got your mother's wit."

"At least we know where my sense of commitment comes from," Ami said bitterly. "Have you heard from her?"

"Last I heard was a couple weeks ago," Leia said. "She was going undercover somewhere with Ben."

"She's so _fraking_ reckless," Ami snapped. "He's here trying to recover from getting his spine damaged and she's half way across the galaxy endangering my fifteen year old brother on some crazy mission behind enemy lines!"

"Once she heard about it she wouldn't let Wedge send anyone else," Leia said. "She said nobody else had the training to do what this mission required."

"You know most women her age are starting to look at retirement," Ami said. "She's getting too old for doing missions like this."

"I'd like to see you tell her that," Leia said with a laugh.

"Happily," Ami growled. She looked back at her father and sighed. "This family is a complete mess. I hope he can find some peace."

"Me, too," Leia replied. "Me, too."


	3. Chapter 2

An alarm broke Jacen out of his thoughts on how he would proceed to hunt down the Black Sun. He looked up and activated the display in front of him, silencing the alarm. After a second of warming up, the passive sensors indicated a fleet of fifty ships of varying sizes had dropped out of hyperspace and were on route to engage the base. Naturally they had detected the energy shield, so they launched drop ships escorted by advanced X-wing fighters. Jacen watched the ships launch and exhaled a breath he didn't realize he had been holding as he activated a console beside him. He flipped a few switches, sending orders to the gunner turrets set out in a ring around the base to shoot down the approaching targets. The battle between the turrets and the drop ships resulted in casualties on both sides, which Jacen had expected. After a tense twenty minute battle, approximately half of the drop ships finally made it to the surface, which, by Jacen's estimation, would account for nearly five thousand ground troops and a couple hundred support walkers against his base of about two hundred personnel.

Over the next half hour he sat back and watched the video feeds of the enemy troops slowly battling their way toward the main base hanger bay entrance against defensive fire. The combined firepower of several AT-ATs finally blasted a giant hole through the hanger door, allowing the enemy troops to storm in by the dozen. That is when he finally flicked another switch, jamming all the radio frequencies on the base, except for two.

"Lanos, I hope you're ready," Jacen said, using a short-range communicator to reach his friend.

" _Ready and awaiting the signal_ ," Lanos replied.

Jacen continued to watch his gambit play out as more and more troops poured into the base and finally flicked one of his last two switches, arming the device. Looking up from the display, he flicked the last one and saw a giant orange plume of fire erupt on the planet surface, exactly where the base had been.

"It's a shame we had to burn that much equipment," Jacen told Lanos, and looked toward the intruding fleet from his vantage point in the cockpit of the _Solo Quest_ as it floated in orbit on low power. He could see giant asteroids decloaking around the enemy ships, placed there by a likewise cloaked fleet of small Mandalorian ships over the last hour of the dragged out land battle between automated turrets and the attacking forces. A parting gift from Boba Fett, Jacen was more than happy to use the cunning Mandalorian warriors and their technology to teach the Bogans a lesson.

" _I'd call this one a victory,_ " Lanos replied as the asteroids began exploding. Nuclear explosives, drilled into the core of each asteroid, were primed by the removal of the cloaking device by the ship that had put it there. Before the enemy fleet could react to the appearance of a hundred asteroids, the Mandalorian ships made it away without detection and the asteroids exploded. It didn't really matter to Jacen if the enemy ships were destroyed or not by the explosions – his lesson wouldn't be taught if there were no survivors.

"That'll make them think twice about coming after us again," Jacen said darkly as he powered up the rest of the systems on his ship and began calculating the jump to hyperspace. " _Oya_ , Lanos! Get to the new base and help Alex set it up. I'll be in contact when my mission is complete."

" _Oya_ , Jacen! Bring home the bounty!"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Purposely having been delayed for her first day of deployment, Eriana showed up at the assigned dormitory and punched in the key code she had been given to open the door. With nothing indicating her status as the leader of the pirate army, she quietly slipped into the room and almost went unnoticed by everyone. The room was full of conversation and Eriana caught words like 'family', 'freedom', and 'Bogan slavers,' until a sharp whistle caught her attention. Her head snapped towards the source of the shrill noise and she saw a giant of a man waving at her with a hand that clearly displayed a tarnished silver ring, indicating her new commanding officer. She gently brushed back her long, recently dyed brown hair behind her left ear and smiled tentatively at the officer while approaching him.

"Hi, I'm looking for Captain Okama," Eriana said, slightly mispronouncing the name written on a sheet of flimsy in her hand.

"I'm Captain Okampa," the large man said. "And you're late, Miss Cannon Fodder."

"I'm sorry," Eriana smiled awkwardly, twirling her hair flirtatiously around her left hand fingers in a manner that made her want to slap herself for selling out her gender. "It's the biggest ship I've been on."

"We'll skip the court-marshal this time," Okampa said. He stood up to his considerable height, slightly taller than Eriana herself, but his much-larger athletic frame gave him a commanding presence in the room. She could see why he had been selected to ascend the ranks of the Vornskrs. As he pushed past her towards the row of lockers behind her she followed him. She glanced at the data pad in his hand and noticed her profile open. "I see you're from Dantooine. First one in the squad. I saw the holonews about the attack a month ago. I hope you weren't there."

Eriana hesitated for dramatic effect, waiting for Okampa to realize she wasn't talking.

"Oh," Okampa said, his bravado dropping off. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it softly. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks." Eriana wiped a tear from her eye. "My family farm was…is no longer our family farm. I didn't know what else to do after the Bogans attacked Dantooine, but I couldn't stay there."

"Yours is a common story," Okampa said, gesturing to the squad on the other side of the room. "They call us pirates, but most of us are here to take the fight to the Bogans. I don't think our leaders even realize that as long as we're hitting Bogan targets, none of us care what we're called."

"Really?" Eriana said, genuinely surprised by this revelation. "I thought everyone was here for the credits."

"Would you admit you'd do the same job for free?" Okampa asked sarcastically.

"No, I suppose not," Eriana said, but filed the information away in her head for future use.

"Hello?" Okampa waved a hand in front of her face. "Day dreaming's going to get you shot."

"Sorry, won't happen again," Eriana said, returning her attention to her new commander.

"As I was saying, here's your locker with all your armour and weapons. Your bunk is back there behind that door; you're number eleven."

"Thank you," Eriana said and unslung the backpack and blaster rifle case from her shoulder, dropping the bag in the bottom of her locker and leaning the blaster rifle against the open door. "Is there a practice range?"

"Practice on the enemy." Okampa spun her around and led her across the room with an arm around her shoulder. "Your test scores came up high enough. If you're one of us, we need to know who we're going into battle with."

"I'm not really the most social…oh, hi, everyone." Eriana protested, feigning awkwardness as she was forced to sit on a bench with the rest of her new team.

Everyone in the group called out their names, but between other people calling out nicknames and saying random facts about each other, she didn't catch any names, except for the one woman who was dressed like a librarian – Jyn.

"You all…um…know each other well," Eriana said. "That's…"  
"Better part of the last year," a blonde man with violet eyes said. "Mickey and Pramid joined us about a month ago after Bortras got hit, and you're new."

"Why did you join up?" Jyn asked. "You don't seem the pirate type."

"Do you even know which end of the blaster to hold?" Someone asked, getting a laugh out of everyone, but Eriana just blushed until Okampa interrupted.

"Hold on guys, her test results are better than any of yours," he said. "We've got a real sniper here."

Eriana smiled sheepishly at him and finally spoke for herself.

"Umm, none of you seem like pirates. You're all so nice. Except for that guy."

She pointed to the one guy who had made the earlier comment and the person sitting next to him shoved him off the bench with his foot, getting a laugh out of everyone as he crashed to the floor. After a second even he started laughing at himself, too.

"How did you end up here?" Someone else finally asked.

"I had nowhere to go and an old family friend said they were recruiting here…" Eriana's voice trailed off, then she shrugged. "I figured I could use some money."

"I think you'll fit in well," Okampa said. He glanced at the wall chronometer and stood up. "Bed time! Mission starts in 8 hours!"

As everyone got up and started converting the room from a sitting area with benches to a sleeping area full of cots, Eriana found herself under Jyn's wing for the process. Jyn popped into the other room and came back with two cots, one with the number eleven on it. They worked together setting up their cots, Jyn offering advice as they went along to ensure the cot was properly fastened to the deck plating so it wouldn't shift if the ship jolted. Everyone took turns using the privacy of the refresher stations to get changed before they started getting into bed.

"What's tomorrow's mission?" Eriana finally asked as she tucked herself in.

"Nobody knows," Jyn said and winked at her. "That's part of the fun of being a pirate.

I know it's big though. My brothers in the Fifth and Third fleets said they're involved, too. I've never heard of more than two Black Vornskr fleets working together before. Sweet dreams!"

Eriana rolled over on her cot to face the wall just as the lights flickered off. As everyone started to fall asleep, including the three people who were having a competition to see who could shake the deck plates the most, Eriana stayed awake with thoughts running through her head.

 _Is this typical behaviour in the lower ranks?_ Eriana thought. _It doesn't even_ feel _like the pirate organization I took over years ago…_

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Every time he returned to Zonama Sekot, Jacen felt like he would be leaving a part of himself behind when he left. The pure presence of the Force that imbued the entire planet made it feel like coming home after years away, even if it was only a couple of weeks since he had last been there. The entire planet of Zonama, governed by the sentient entity of Sekot that Jacen had befriended to help end the Yuuzhan Vong war, seemed to greet him with an empathically encompassing hug the second he stepped off the boarding ramp onto the soft green grass that had been cut short around the Jedi Temple. He stopped and stretched out his Force presence, returning the empathic hug back to the planet with a big happy grin on his face before continuing toward the small settlement near the base of the Temple. Somehow, Zonama Sekot could brighten even the darkest of times.

Reaching the outskirts of the fenced settlement at the edge of the jungle, Jacen was greeted by Ami Jade with a running wampa hug, which he happily returned.

"How's Jedi University going?" Jacen asked, playing on a joke shared between them about her once voiced desire to return to school for a Master's degree. Ami released him and pushed him away playfully.

"For the record, I still hate you for sending me here. This place _sucks_. Look at this." Ami held her arms out, showing off the Jedi apprentice clothes she was wearing. Wearing clothes made of unbleached cotton with large billowy sleeves, a belt around her middle hoplding three overlapping layers together, Jacen thought she looked like any other Jedi apprentice he had ever met. He shrugged and shook his head in response.

"Seriously? You're as broken as the others around here?" Ami asked, gesturing to the looming trees and thick underbrush to the west. "We live in a hot, steamy jungle. I showed up to class in a tank top on my first day and they told me to put this crap on. Why? Because half the class of little boys hit puberty when they saw real cleavage for the first time."

To emphasize her point, she grabbed her breasts.

" _I_ can barely tell that they're under all this material! I feel like a dumbass. It's hotter than Tattoine under all these layers. I have _never_ been so damned happy in my life to get back to my room at the end of every day, blast some music and dance around naked. How can you stand these clothes? They're itchy in places that shouldn't itch."

"You look fine, Ami," Jacen said with a laugh and continued his walk. "You'll get used to it."

"Do you think it would kill them to put a bar or club in around here?" Ami ranted on, ignoring his attempt at consolation. "These people are _so_ _boring_. The night life here is _meditating_. I'm a thirty one year old woman, Jacen. I have _needs_. There's, like, one guy anywhere near my age and he's…I don't even know what species he is, but he has feathers, a beak and sleeps in a nest. I've done some pretty weird stuff in my days, but I'm not going anywhere near _that_. I swore off girls ten years ago, but I'd totally be all over any if they were my age. This planet is killing my sex life."

"Well that's certainly more than I needed to know," Jacen muttered. "Ami, you knew this was a school for kids when you signed up."

" _I_ signed up?" Ami asked. " _You're_ the one who sent me here saying I wasn't ready to be apprenticed yet. Don't you pin this all on me."

"I guess I can't argue with that."

"Don't you guys find adult Jedi candidates?" Ami asked. From the pleading tone in her voice Jacen could tell she was genuinely disappointed, as if making the decision to learn the ways of the Jedi had truly not lived up to her expectations. "I'm not looking for a Jedi dating service or anything but it's been four months and I'm still the only person my age. There's nobody around I can talk to about things people our age talk about except the instructors, and that'd just be too weird. It'd be better if they didn't take away my medicine, too. They keep telling me to meditate if I'm getting stressed out. Would a shot of whisky really send me to the dark side?"

Jacen laughed and put an arm around her, squeezing her in a sideways hug as they continued to walk along the fence on the outside of the Jedi Village toward the Jedi Temple. "I'm not leaving until tomorrow. I keep a decent stock of liqueurs on the _Quest_ , so if you want a lesson on detoxification techniques after consuming some 'medicine,' I think I could arrange that."

"And, aside from you shipping me off here, _that_ is why you're my favourite cousin I never knew I had," Ami replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You understand me."

Jacen merely smiled and they continued walking in silence for a few moments before Ami continued. "I guess, entertainment, dating prospects and wardrobe aside, it isn't too bad here. This stuff _is_ pretty cool. I'm already on year eight material, but they won't let me go off planet until I find someone to apprentice myself to and finish my lightsaber. I'm almost done it, but I still need a focusing crystal. Any ideas, oh great Jedi Master Jacen?"

"Lightsaber designs are quite versatile. You can use just about any crystal that's about thumb sized as long as it doesn't have any internal flaws. I used a Corusca gem that I pulled out of Yavin when Uncle Lando was running gem diver expeditions."

Jacen let go of her and drew his lightsaber from his belt. He used the Force to release a latch inside the hilt and split it open on the hidden hinges to show her the internal structure of his second lightsaber. Having built it after his first one was destroyed during the final battle of the Yuuzhan Vong war, he was ecstatic when he was able to find and reuse the incredibly valuable Corusca gem that had helped him escape the Shadow Academy almost twenty years before. Reflecting the daylight of the sun, the gem sparkled in a way that made it look like it was creating its own light internally. While on his travels, one thing Jacen had discovered was how to strengthen a lightsaber crystal's sense of its owner. Not too dissimilar to the way that Eriana had trained the Corusca Black Vornskr ring on his finger, using the Force he trained the crystal to absorb and reflect his own personality and strength the same way it did with light. The more he used it, the more the crystal seemed to know him and respond to his presence, building a personality of its own. Looking back, that discovery about the crystals was perhaps the only reason why he _had_ rebuilt his lightsaber and continued to use it. Over time he found the crystal had helped him focus better and allowed him to interact more fluidly with the blade using the Force. It also helped him understand how the lightsaber used energy and adjust itself to the task at hand, creating a symbiotic relationship between Jedi and lightsaber.

"Damn," Ami said, mesmerized by the brilliance of the crystal in both visually and in the Force. She looked up at him with a big grin. "I don't suppose you'd care to give it to your favourite cousin?"

Jacen returned her grin and snapped the cover shut. "I didn't know Ben needed a new lightsaber."

"Oh don't you dare go there!" Ami pushed him jokingly away from herself.

"I couldn't give it to you if I wanted to," Jacen said, wrapping his hands around the hilt and holding it close to his heart. "The crystal is very personal. Aside from having a monetary value worth more than some small moons, this one is very uniquely loyal to me. Here, give it a try. You'll see what I mean."

He handed her the hilt and watched as she took a step back, readying herself to ignite it. When she hit the activation plate, nothing happened.

"Cute," Ami said, looking it over. "Where's the trick switch?"

"No trick," Jacen said. She tossed the hilt back at him. He caught it deftly with one hand and hit the activation plate. The brilliant emerald green blade sprang forth without hesitation.

"It knows me," Jacen said, almost hiding his smugness. Like Eriana was with her twin yellow lightsabers, he was quite proud with how attuned his lightsaber had become to him. "Eriana, Tenel Ka, and J…" He stopped at almost saying the name of his sister and pushed her out of his thoughts.

"Only the people closest to me or really strong Jedi Masters have been able to use it," Jacen adjusted his line of reasoning as he deactivated the lightsaber. "It wouldn't even activate for Aunt Mara. I don't entirely understand the intricacies of crystal training, but I think it can sense blood connections to a degree. For some reason Dad was able to activate it, which still confuses me."

"Wouldn't that mean I should be able to?" Ami asked. "We _are_ family by blood."

"Like I said, I don't understand everything about it yet. It could be that we haven't spent enough time together. Or it could be that it senses you want to take it from me and it disagrees with that notion."

"You're not being very helpful," Ami criticized him, trying to get back on the topic of her lightsaber. "I still have no idea what to use."

"I don't keep spare crystals lying around my ship," Jacen said. "I have a few spare lightsabers, but you should really start with a fresh crystal so you can train it. Have you considered growing one or asking Sekot if she has any ideas?"

"You want me to ask the planet?" Ami asked doubtfully. "It's time check the atmospheric settings on your ship, Jacen. I think you're running the oxygen a bit low."

Jacen merely shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to try."

"Okay," Ami rolled her eyes, spread her arms out and looked up to the sky. "Oh, great Sekot, protector of the Jedi. Have you a crystal for my deprived lightsaber?"

Ami looked at Jacen with a sarcastically expectant expression and he watched as it slowly morphed into one of shock. She pointed over his shoulder.

" _What the hell is that!?_ " Ami shouted. "Where did _that_ come from?"

Jacen turned around slowly to see the ghostly image of a young blonde haired kid sitting on the fence that surrounded the Jedi village. The image smiled and waved.

"Sekot, it is good to see you again," Jacen said calmly. "This is my cousin, Ami. I guess you haven't met."

"My friend, Jacen Solo," Sekot smiled at him and hopped off the fence, floating to the ground slower than the planetary gravity should command. Sekot's voice was too old and wise for the happy twelve year old boy avatar that represented it. "Your presence brings me joy once again."

"You're friends with a planet," Ami muttered. "And I thought my family was weird _before_ I met them."

"I'm always happy to return here," Jacen replied, ignoring his cousin. "This is my cousin Amidala Jade, one of the students here."

"I have been watching this one," Sekot said. The image walked around her and Jacen, as if assessing the young woman visually. Jacen and Ami could both sense that Sekot was scanning her at a much deeper level with the Force. "Her blood is of Anakin's. She has not yet achieved calmness in her heart."

"It may take her a while," Jacen said, winking at Ami as she blushed to almost the shade of her red hair. "We all have to find our own way."

"The blood of Skywalker has strength that can be difficult to wield," Sekot agreed, now standing in front of the two humans again. The avatar turned and looked at Jacen with a sad expression. "I sense turmoil in you, friend Jacen. _Your_ calm falters."

Jacen hesitated, not to hide anything from Sekot, but from Ami. Only Tenel Ka and Eriana knew of the true reason for the rift between him and Jaina, even then they did not know all the details. He did not want word of Jaina's condition to get back to his mother or uncle any more than he wanted to be badgered by their questions about her. Everyone had enough to worry about without his self-destructive sister thrown into the mix.

"My twin and I are not getting along," Jacen said, deciding to say only what Ami already knew. "Twins have a very unique connection in the Force, so it…affects me more than I'd like."

"Your hearts beat stronger in unison," Sekot advised him. These words caught Jacen off guard, but before he could ask for clarification, the avatar turned its attention to Ami. "You are looking for a heart for your laser sword."

"Y-yes, a crystal." Ami corrected nervously and held up her finger and thumb a few centimetres apart. "A small one. About thumb sized."

"It needs to be flawless," Jacen added, getting a quick nod from Ami. "Any defects can redirect energy haphazardly and cause the blade to fail. I know how that ends all too well."

"Come," Sekot said and turned toward the jungle through the village. The avatar immediately began walking at a brisk clip, gliding along faster than the steps it was taking should allow it to travel.

"Go," Jacen urged her and slipped a spare communicator from his belt into her hand. "Sekot will take care of you."

"Are you mad?"

"Go!" Jacen gently pushed her in the direction of Sekot with a big grin on his face. "Have fun!"

Ami mouthed "I hate you!" but turned and ran toward the avatar before it got out of her sight.

With a laugh, Jacen turned toward the Jedi Temple. He could sense his mother and uncle's presence within, and with them, his children. He set off, unsuccessfully trying to push Sekot's words to him out of his mind.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Apologies for the delay. Small personal emergency on Thursday night kept me occupied for the weekend. The good news is the second CT scan showed I do, in fact, have a brain.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The destruction of the Kuat Drive Yards at the hands of the first, third and fifth Black Vornskrs fleets sent a ripple through the galaxy. While the planets among the Bogan Empire reported the attack as an act of terrorism and resulted in vows of revenge against the ruthless Black Vornskr pirates, allies of the Jedi Coalition celebrated the destruction of not only the capability of building more of the nigh-indestructible battle cruisers, but over five hundred capital ships that had protected the shipyards.

To Eriana, returning to the Alderaan Graveyard was the end of one of the most convoluted plans she had worked on her entire life. It had taken months of planning, plotting, bribing and making people disappear to get one Black Vornskr member onto the engineering teams on each of those ships defending the drive yards. Each one was tasked with ensuring a power system failure on their ships at the exact moment the Vornskr fleet had arrived. Not even the heavy armour of the two giant _Obsidian_ -class ships could withstand the onslaught of three thousand Black Vornskr ships that showed up for target practice. With the fleet decimated or surrendered in under twenty minutes, the shipyards had become easy targets that had been practically abandoned of all civilians.

Not to mention, in the process of the battle, Black Vornksrs raiding parties, like the one Eriana had joined, had stolen nearly ten trillion credits worth of refined metals, billions of credits worth of foodstuffs, and hundreds of thousands of weapons that would be used against the Bogan ships in future engagements. As she read the reports, Eriana only wished that she could see Corran Horn's face when he heard what her fleets had done.

"Your team did well," Colonel Harrington said as he walked onto the bridge and took his place at his leader's side. "One of the highest value raids among all the teams. Not exactly what I'd call 'flying under the radar,' but at least nobody recognized you."

"I noticed the stash of Aurodium ingots that they use for circuitry after everyone else walked right past it," Eriana said nonchalantly, absentmindedly scratching her scalp. The colour-stripping agent that had returned her hair to its natural blond tone left her head itchy, but she was happy to be back to her normal colour. "Did you want me to leave behind a trillion credits to be blown up?"

"Not at all," Harrington said. "I'll have as much of the refined metals transferred to the distribution agents and start moving the supplies we can use among the fleet. Everyone is going to want their cuts."

"Yeah," Eriana said, not entirely focused on the fleet operations at that moment.

"Eriana?"

"Sorry?" Eriana brought her attention back to Harrington, realizing that she had become lost in her thoughts about the conversations she had had with the team again.

"The generals are requesting orders."

"Have them return to regular operations until further notice once supplies have been distributed," Eriana ordered. "I'll be in touch with them within the next week to discuss where we go from here. And tell them to pass my personal thanks along to everyone in the fleet. We kicked ass today."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The visit with his family lasted several hours longer than Jacen had expected. Anakin was overjoyed to see his dad and ran back and forth between Jacen and his small action figures, happy to tell Jacen that the little plastic figure holding a blue lightsaber was him and he was beating up all the other bad guys. Allaya hardly recognized him, more focused on crawling around and smashing a small plastic hammer against anything that stood still long enough, like Jacen's feet and Uncle Luke's wheelchair. Leia insisted he spend some time with the kids, retreating for a walk around the Jedi Temple with Luke as Jacen and Anakin played with the small action figures. He used the Force to mobilize an army of bad guys marching toward Anakin and the plastic rendition of himself, letting them smash their way through his army of soldiers and starfighters. He also used Allaya in his war against Anakin and Plastic Jacen, having a squad of Stormtroopers riding on her back as she crawled by like a rampaging AT-AT. At the end of the three hour campaign, Anakin and Plastic Jacen won, but not until every last toy and his little sister had suffered a grand defeat. When Anakin's squeals of delight hit a decibel level that seemed almost inhuman, Grandma Leia finally came back and suggested it was nap time for the little brave warrior and his AT-AT sister.

"He misses you," Luke said as Jacen entered the kitchen looking for a drink. "He asks where you are all the time."

Jacen poured himself a glass of water and sat at the table across from his uncle. "Now I know how hard it must have been for mom and dad to keep us on Anoat when we were young. This war frakin' sucks. We had to burn another base. Black Sun keeps finding us and alerting Darth Titan. I'm convinced those two are in bed with each other now."

"I can't remember a time we weren't in danger," Luke said. "Ever since I left Tattoine it has felt like it'll never end. We've been fighting for decades. There's always something new coming after us."

"There always will be," Leia said, having returned from setting Anakin down for his nap. She took a plate of cookies from the counter and put it in front of Jacen. He noticed for the first time how much older she looked from the last time he saw her, as if her years had finally started catching up to her in the last few months.

Jacen frowned and shook his head.

"Tenel Ka and I are going after the Black Sun leadership," Jacen said. "She's on her way here now. We'll leave tomorrow after mid-day meal."

"Be careful," Leia cautioned him. "The Black Sun should not be underestimated."

"That's why it's only the two of us," Jacen said. "I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. I need someone I can trust who can handle themselves in a fight and move around discretely, and there aren't many of those around."

"Take Ami," Luke suggested. "She's had slicer training and she's looking for a Jedi Master. I'm sure she would appreciate some time off planet."

Jacen laughed, realizing that she had probably given Luke most of the same rant he had just received from her. "I'd love to, but I upgraded HK-47's slicing suite for this mission. Droids tend to be able to get places people can't. And Ami's not field ready yet."

"She isn't ready to be a Jedi," Luke agreed. "But she has done long-term infiltration missions. She can be useful."

"It doesn't feel right," Jacen finally said. He looked his uncle in his light blue eyes and held his stare. This was the third time today that Luke had tried pressuring Jacen into taking Ami on as an apprentice, but he still did not like the idea of bringing her into the field too soon. "I feel that she can't go where I have to go."

"The days where I could tell you what to do have certainly passed," Luke said and sipped his tea.

Unsure what to say to that, Jacen merely sipped his water in turn.

"What leads do you have?" Leia asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"The CEO of Synergy Technology," Jacen said simply, setting his tea cup down and picking up an oddly shaped cookie that looked, rather humorously, like a Wookiee. "Coren Sherdoy. We think he's the Underlord."

Leia and Luke exchanged expressions.

"And what are you planning on doing?" Luke asked.

"Kidnap him," Jacen said, trying to avoid eye contact as he spun the Wookiee cookie around his saucer with a finger. "And threaten everything important to him until he disbands Black Sun."

"Yeah, that'll work," Luke said with uncharacteristic sarcasm and pushed the plate of cookies toward him. "Take some extra cookies for the trip. You may as well die on a full stomach."

" _Uncle Luke!_ " Jacen said indignantly. "What do you think we're going to do? We need to take this guy out. We know his spy network hidden in the LinkCom devices is the backbone of their power. HK-47 is working on a virus that will eliminate it, and either we'll find some abandoned planet to stuff him on or he can die while we're trying. It isn't like I haven't gone on missions to abduct hostile leaders before."

"And how many of those missions actually succeeded?" Luke asked and bit the head off a Wookiee cookie.

"I _did_ take out Krayt and Onimi," Jacen said before turning to his mom, who was looking increasingly uncomfortable being caught between the two Jedi Masters. "And I got you away from Tsavong Lah on Duros."

"Don't forget Ithor," Luke said around his cookie. "Belkadan. Myrkr. You're not invincible."

"And I've learned a lot since then. Since when did you become so damned cynical?" Jacen finally asked, standing up and looking down at his uncle.

"Jacen!" Leia exclaimed, but he ignored his mom.

"I get it. You lost your legs. And it's probably _my_ fault that I didn't get to you sooner to stop the poison. But are you going to blame _me_ for your failed operation and your lack of will to carry on? What happened to the great Jedi Master that brought all of _this_ back from extinction on his own? _Who_ faced down the two people who wiped out the Jedi Order with nothing more than a pat on the back from some wrinkled old swamp hermit to cheer him on? I'm going out there and putting my life on the line so my kids can have a better future. I know you did that for half of your life, so I thought you'd have a bit more respect for someone who is trying to carry _your_ torch for the next generation. I don't need this, and you're the last person _anyone_ should be hearing it from."

Jacen turned away from the table and made for the door out of the room, when he reached the door it wouldn't open.

"Don't make me break your hold over the door," Jacen said over his shoulder.

"Come back here," Luke said emotionlessly. Reluctantly, Jacen obliged. Neither he nor Leia had moved since Jacen got up, but one thing changed in the room – Luke's lightsaber was on the table in front of him.

"I want you to have this," Luke said, patting it gently. "It won't do me any good anymore."

"You don't get it, do you?" Jacen asked. "You taught me my entire life to keep fighting for what is right. How do you think every fraking Jedi you ever trained would feel if they knew that _Luke Skywalker_ gave up?"

Jacen fought back his tears as he retreated to the door, and this time it opened to his command.

"Keep your lightsaber, old man. Maybe you'll learn something from it."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen marched across the field just under a run, so focused on reaching his ship to get away from his frustrating uncle that he hardly noticed when Ami ran up to him.

"I got it!" Ami said, finally reached him and grabbed his shoulder, spooking him out of his march. He reacted automatically, reaching over and around her arm to lock it with his and barely stopped himself from driving the heel of his palm into her nose. His eyes went wide when he realized who it was.

"Ami, I'm so sorry," Jacen said, releasing her arm and pulling her into a hug. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I just had a fight with your dad."

"I think your mom's the only one who hasn't had a row with him," Ami admitted. "Ever since Mom left for 'mission unknown' he's been sulking more and more every day. Are you okay?"

"Nothing a few good shots of whisky won't cure," Jacen said, finally releasing her. "How'd it go with Sekot?"

"Sekot's awesome," Ami beamed and held up a crystal. Jacen could sense it through the Force, similar to how he could sense the Lambent in his brother's lightsaber through his Vongsense. "It's _alive_. Isn't it beautiful? Thank you _so_ much. Now I can finish my lightsaber."

Jacen looked towards his ship, then back at her. "Lightsaber, or detox class?"

Ami bit her lower lip and looked at the crystal. She looked back up at him with an excited glow in her eyes, not unlike a five year old on their life day.

"I wanna finish my lightsaber."

Jacen followed Ami back to her hut, a small square wooden building along the fence that bordered the jungle farthest from the landing pad. The small hut had a common area that took up the front half of the building and two rooms that took up a back quarter each. Ami's door was decorated brightly with flowers stuffed behind her nameplate and pictures taped all over, whereas "Noral" merely had a bare nameplate.

"That's birdman," Ami whispered to Jacen as she opened the door to her room. "I try to avoid him. We don't get along."

"Yeah, he doesn't seem like your type," Jacen whispered back, still eyeing the decorations on her door.

While the common area had little more than basic furniture in it, Ami's room seemed to be a reflection of her outgoing personality, much like her door. If clothes were a decoration in and of themselves, Ami's room was perhaps the most decorated room Jacen had ever seen. Everything from spare dull Jedi robes to bright workout clothes to underwear of all sorts seemed to cover every piece of furniture. Her bed looked like a nest of clothes that had been slept on enough times to leave an indentation the size of her body, the desk and dresser had been painted with bright swirling pastel colours, and everything from books to knick knacks seemed to be scattered everywhere. The one area that seemed to be organized was a small brown table covered with what Jacen recognized as the components and tools necessary for building a lightsaber. At first glance at her work, she did appear to be nearly complete.

"Sorry about the mess," Ami said. "Nobody ever visits me."

"Are you sure?" Jacen asked and pointed to a lump of clothes piled behind the door. "They might be lost under there."

Nearly elbowing Jacen in the head, she aggressively pulled her tunic off, with the belt still around it, over her head to reveal a bright pink tank top underneath, which nearly came off with the ensemble. She tossed the bundle onto the pile by the door and smoothed out her frizzy red hair and shirt. " _So_ much better. What'd you say?"

"I like what you did with the place."

"Thanks! I painted the furniture myself."

Skillfully following the one short path of bare floor to the desk, Ami moved past him and took a seat. Jacen stood behind her, watching her as she settled into her sabersmithing. She consulted a data pad that was propped up against the wall and pointed to one of the diagrams which exploded to show how the crystal was held in place. She gently eased the new crystal into the fixture and adjusted the set screws so the crystal would not budge. Jacen watched in patient silence for almost half an hour as she checked the wiring and components one last time, comparing them to the intricate diagram on the datapad. Part of Jacen felt a twang of jealousy because she had an easy guide to follow, whereas he had only had a roughly sketched diagram from his uncle for his first lightsaber. However, having built a few lightsabers himself, he could tell that her construction was technically solid. What impressed him about it was not only the simple yet artistic design, but the materials. He could swear the outer casing was a tube made out of a phrik alloy, and the centimetre wide slit that ran down two thirds of the hilt revealed not only the Sekotan vine pattern etched inner aurodium casing around some of the components, but also the crystal itself. Very few lightsabers Jacen had ever seen allowed the focusing crystal to be visible, but Ami was obviously trying to be as distinctive with her lightsaber as she was with her room. The end result was a very sleek, beautiful design of a lightsaber.

"There," Ami said as she finished screwing the pommel on and held it up to him. "One complete lightsaber for your approval, Master Cousin Solo."

"You forgot the most important step," Jacen said, not even looking at the lightsaber. "A lightsaber is incomplete without it."

"Right," Ami said, mildly dejected. Jacen backed up as she stood up and grabbed her tunic. She threw it over her head and tugged on it to make sure it sat right. She picked the lightsaber off her desk and together they left the hut to retreat back out into the field away from the village.

"Apparently the blast radius of a poorly built lightsaber can be about twenty metres," Ami said nervously. She held the hilt in front of her and looked at Jacen. "You might want to stand back."

"I'll be fine," Jacen said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Are you sure? I'd hate to take you out with me."

"I've controlled the energy of an exploding power generator," Jacen said with a wink. "I think I can handle a small power cell. Just remember; use the Force to bind the pieces together, adjust the focusing lenses, and correct any imperfections as you activate the power flow for the first time. Trust the Force and it will guide you."

Ami closed her eyes and Jacen felt her accessing the Force, drawing on it for guidance and wielding it to perform the last critical steps of tuning her lightsaber. He watched as her thumb slowly depressed the ignition button for the first time and, after a few seconds that felt like an eternity, a brilliant yellow blade snapped into existence.

"It's beautiful," Jacen said with a smile.

"I was hoping for green," Ami said in mild awe of the colour. "But I can work with yellow."

"The traditional colour of a Jedi Sentinel. I think it's appropriate given your background." Jacen removed his own lightsaber from his belt and held it towards her, offering a duel. "Ready to test it out?"

"Nope." Ami turned off her lightsaber and hooked it to her belt proudly. "Now we celebrate."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"He's reckless," Luke said bitterly. "He has no idea what he's going up against."

"Did we ever?" Leia asked, pulling herself to her feet and began clearing the table.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luke demanded. Leia looked him in the eye, hoping he would wilt under her stare, but he held strong.

"He's not wrong," Leia snapped. "You are getting cynical."

Luke grabbed the last cookie from the plate as Leia began taking it away and bit the head off it.

"What's really bothering you?"

Luke looked up at his sister, whose back was towards him. She turned slowly to face him.

"No, don't you dare deny it," Leia said. "I can sense your feelings well enough to know you're hiding something, and it isn't about your back."

Luke looked away and shook his head.

"It's Mara. I can sense she's in danger."

Leia waited patiently for him to continue as he waited impatiently for her to take the dishes in her hands to the kitchen.

"And I can't do anything about it!" Luke shouted, raising his hands in defeat. "I can't fraking walk, I can't fight, I can't even fly a fraking speeder! Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear, that I'm a complete fraking invalid!?"

Leia looked down at her brother and frowned. The loss of Han had hit them both hard, and the continued threat to their family was weighing heavy on everyone.

"That's no reason to take it out on Jacen," Leia said. "He's over ten years older than we were when we took on the Empire, and has his own war under his belt. It's never easy watching your children go on one suicide mission after another, but there's no better trained Jedi out there. You know he's the right person for the job."

Luke grunted miserably in response.

"And if you want to help Mara, maybe you should do something other than sitting around here feeling sorry for yourself. It's time for your physio."

"It isn't for another hour," Luke argued after glancing at the chronometer.

"Get out of my apartment, Luke," Leia snapped. "I won't have you near my grandkids with this attitude. Anakin can sense it."

"Fine," Luke growled. He grabbed the control stick of his electric hoverchair and drove his way out, nearly clipping Leia's leg in the process. "I'll go sulk somewhere else!"


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Life. Grr. Enjoy.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Drinking with Ami proved to be a lot more fun than Jacen had expected. Having gone to parties at university that never would have happened at the Jedi Academy, Ami had picked up several drinking games that Jacen had never would have learned. However, after an hour of experimentation, their drunken creativity and application of the Force had taken their games to a whole new level.

"Off that wall," Ami said, pointing to the walls of the cargo hold with over exaggerated waves of her arms. "That one. That one, and that one, then in the middle cup."

Jacen squeezed the small rubber ball in his hand and tried to maintain his focus, both on the task at hand and not spilling the drink he was holding. The object of the game was to try bouncing the ball as described by the other player and have it land in one of the ten red plastic cups arranged in a triangle in the middle of the room. If he got it into the cup, she had to drink the contents. She had called it "Jedi Pong." So far, Jacen was barely winning, but only because he seemed to have as much control over the Force in his current state as Ami seemed to have over her alcohol tolerance. That is, just a little bit of control. He began his wind up, picking the spot he had to hit first.

"And try not to bag yourself this time!"

He stumbled back a step as he started laughing a bit, which caused Ami to start laughing at him. Which caused him to start laughing harder. Before they knew it, they were both on the floor laughing at each other.

"I'm wearing my drink." Jacen said, holding up his empty cup. When they made eye contact, they both broke out laughing again.

Then Jacen screamed.

Sometime later he woke up. He was curled up with his arms wrapped around his legs and his body felt numb from the alcohol. It took him a moment to remember that he was on his own ship playing a game with Ami. He closed his eyes and started a detoxification technique to clear some of the alcohol from his system. After a few moments, the numbness faded to tiredness.

"Ami?" Jacen asked. He sat up and noticed that the back left side of his shirt was soaked in whisky. His own spilt drink, he recalled. His tunic was still crumpled up by the door beside Ami's, safe from any spilled alcohol. The lights were on and the game was still set up, but he could not sense Ami in the ship. Jacen pulled himself to his feet and worked his way to the door. He made his way to the boarding ramp and came face to face with a panicked Kam Sulstar and an embarrassed-looking Ami.

"Jacen! Are you okay? Ami said you were hurt."

"I'm fine," Jacen said wearily, leaning against the door frame of the airlock. He could still feel residual pains twanging in his chest, but it seemed that Jaina was riding out the tail end of the high that had caught him off guard. Alcohol seemed to lower his tolerance to her antics.

"What the hell were you two doing?" Kam asked. "Ami came stumbling into the village yelling like an idiot saying you were dying. She's had so much alcohol I'm surprised she could even walk."

"I have a high tolerance for my weight class," Ami supplied in a reasonable tone, absentmindedly playing with one of the straps on her tank top. She looked at Kam and wilted under his glare when she belatedly realized the implications of that admission.

"I offered to teach her some detoxification techniques which could come in handy in the field," Jacen said as seriously as he could, hoping he could regain some measure of respect from Kam. "Being intoxicated is a prerequisite."

"I see," Kam said. "And what part of this unauthorized class, Master Solo, involves you screaming your lungs out and passing out, scaring the wits out of one of my students?"

"The part where…oh, frak it, Kam, don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to." Jacen seemed to wilt against the wall a bit more, letting his exhaustion show. "It's a family thing."

Kam gave him a hard glare, which Jacen held with what little strength remained in him. He knew Kam could see his weariness, but he didn't care. Everyone seemed to know at least one story about how messed up the Skywalker-Solo family was these days. Kam stepped forward and put a hand on Jacen's shoulder and squeezed it.

"Jacen, don't lower yourself to his level," Kam said sincerely, though incorrectly guessing the source of Jacen's fatigue. "I've talked to Luke a few times. He's coping in his own way, and you don't need to let him drag you down with him. I know it isn't easy, but we need guys like you out there keeping a level head."

"We're just taking a break for one night," Jacen said reasonably, nodding toward Ami. "We've both been carrying a lot of weight."

"I'll trust you to not make a habit of it," Kam said, somehow making it sound as much as an order as a statement. "Come see me tomorrow before you leave. I want your help with a project."

Kam started to walk away from Jacen, but did not get far before he made his next comment.

"And keep her on your ship tonight. She's lucky she found me when the younger students were out for a hike. The older students are supposed to be setting an example."

"Sorry, Jacen," Ami whispered as Kam finally departed. "I got scared when you screamed."

"It's an old injury," Jacen said evasively. "We should get on with your class. You look like you could use some recovery."

Ami chortled, earning her an odd look from Jacen.

"I kinda thought the cockpit was the 'fresher."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Tenel Ka, Astro and HK-47 arrived on Zonoma Sekot together in a small Hapan shuttle piloted by the former Queen herself just as Jacen was on his way back to his ship from his meeting with Kam. Tenel Ka and Jacen spent some time together with their family, and, in her usual diplomatic manner, she pretended not to notice the stoic silence and fuming stares shared between her husband and his uncle. After their visit and drawn out goodbyes with the Skywalker-Solo family, Tenel Ka and HK-47 went directly to the _Solo Quest_ while Jacen followed Ami back to her hut.

"When are you coming back?" Ami asked. "It was nice knowing that some Jedi can actually be fun. You're not as stuck up as these other guys."

"Ami, I spoke to Kam this morning," Jacen said. "He told me that you're not really fitting in here well."

"I'm not," Ami said without meeting his eyes. "I'm learning a lot, but I feel like I've just been putting in time waiting for that chance to get off world. And the classes are kinda…kiddy…"

"He, um… _quite_ _adamantly_ suggested there may be a more suitable arrangement for you that could be more appropriate to your social and learning styles," Jacen said. "Plus you could use some of the skills you already have."

Ami's eyes lit up. "You mean apprenticeship?"

"There is a Jedi Knight on world right now who does not have an apprentice," Jacen said evasively. "And the Council has wanted him to take one on for a while, but he doesn't think the mission he is going on is right for you..."

"Don't worry, I can handle anything. I'll be packed in five!" Ami said and ran into her hut. She came back out a couple minutes later wearing the same stuffed green cotton backpack she was wearing when Jacen had first met her. "All ready to go? What's our mission?"

"Did I mention that Jedi was Master Katarn?" Jacen asked.

"Not old stuffy guy," Ami's shoulders drooped in disappointment at the mention of Kyle Katarn. "I hate old stuffy guy. He's so stuffy. And old."

"I'm joking. Kyle's already off world," Jacen said. "Let's go. Tenel Ka is prepping the ship."

"Is it true you cut off her arm?" Ami asked with her characteristic bubbliness, already forgetting Jacen's bad joke. "I heard that from one of the other students. And she married you anyway? How did she regrow it?"

"It was a training accident," Jacen said. "We're a little sensitive about the subject. Rule number one: No questions about the arm."

They finally reached the ship and, as Ami settled into the guest quarters, Jacen and Tenel Ka began the launch sequence to depart Zonoma Sekot.

"We're bringing Ami?" Tenel Ka asked as Jacen took a seat in the pilot's chair. He glanced at her before reaching over to flick the switch that closed the door to the cockpit behind them.

"Kam and I had a chat this morning," Jacen said. He didn't even try to mask some of the resentment he felt. "He thinks I screwed up last night by getting her drunk."

"So he gave you guardianship over her?"

"He wants me to show more responsibility," Jacen continued as he applied power to the repulsors, floating the ship into the sky. He was quiet for a few moments as he engaged the main drives and sent the ship on an upwards trajectory for space. "Ignore the fact that she's practically my age. He thinks I've been a deviant, irresponsible and reckless Jedi Knight for the last few years for shrugging off assignments. He said it's time for me to stop hiding behind my uncle and start acting like a real Jedi Knight."

"There was a time that you couldn't touch the Force."

"I couldn't exactly tell him that, could it?" Jacen snapped, more frustrated at the dressing down he had received than at her. He took a deep breath and released it. "Sorry. You didn't deserve that. But that's only part of it. Turning down several potential apprentices, putting my family, friends and the Black Vornskrs before the Order, partaking in attacks on the Black Sun in collaboration with the enemy... He had a pretty long list detailing why they've never really trusted me since I left after the war. It seems like the Council has been secretly watching me, waiting for Uncle Luke to step down so they could go after me now that I'm just a regular Jedi now. If they only knew how much I've learned and I've done behind their backs to protect them and forwarded the goals of the Jedi…well, it would have been a very different conversation."

"Why did you not tell them?" Tenel Ka asked. "Kam is a wise man. He would understand."

"There are things I know that would shatter the Jedi Order," Jacen replied. "For their own protection it's better if I stay silent. Besides, I think they're done with our family. We've always gotten away with everything because of who we are. The Jedi will be better off without Skywalkers steering the ship anymore. Certainly my bitch of a sister isn't helping our case."

Tenel Ka ignored the jab at Jaina and sat in silent contemplation for a moment. "By giving Ami to you, would I be in error to suggest that it appears the Jedi Council is consolidating your family in isolation?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," Jacen admitted. "They're also pretty sure we're on a suicide mission. Kam gave me quite an earful about bringing you along until I told him it was your idea."

They sat in an uncomfortable silence until the ship broke atmosphere and Jacen felt Sekot's familiar presence caress him one last time before drawing away. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out before unbuckling his crash webbing and hopping into the navigator's chair to access the navicomputer.

"Where shall we begin?" Tenel Ka finally asked.

"We're going to need some intel on what is really going on in Synergy Technology," Jacen said. "All I've been able to find out so far is the façade maintaining the picture-perfect image that they're keeping up for the stock holders and public. We're going to need facility schematics, security details and executive timetables if we're going to get in there and find this guy. I have some Vornskr contacts on Abo Dreth that might be able to help us out."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

On the outskirts of Mortoh City on Abo Dreth, a large busy warehouse surrounded by dozens of identical warehouses spoke to the economic prowess of the Corporate Sector during this time of galactic instability. Everything from consumer goods to military material moved in and out of the warehouses from and to the nearby space port, including a pair of Jedi.

Jacen and Tenel Ka, both wearing disguises, pulled up to the designated warehouse with their truck and the eight large crates of planter pots. Clean-shaven and having trimmed his hair short and dyed blond, as well as wearing contact lenses to make his eyes appear blue, Jacen had little fear of recognition as he handed the Rodian security guard at the gate his documents.

"Your friend's identification?" The guard asked after glancing at the fake ID for one "Cyrus Omega" that Jacen had Ami make for him. He looked over at his wife, almost unrecognizable even to him with her hair black dyed tied back in a simple pony tail and a temporary tattoo covering half her face, and accepted the card from her, glancing at the name "Sera Omega" before passing it to the guard.

"Ah, mates!" the guard said enthusiastically as he compared the two cards. "You have good job, always work together. Meedo never see mate. Meedo work, Meedo's mate stay home."

"It's not as great as it seems," Jacen smiled at the Rodian politely. "Some days all we do is fight."

"Fighters make better lovers, no?" Meedo winked one of his large black eyes and passed the documents back to Jacen. "Door fourteen. Take care, friend!"

The gate opened and Jacen drove the hover truck through as he passed the documents back to Tenel Ka, who resorted and held onto them as he manoeuvred the truck up to the door. As he backed the giant vehicle into the spot, he bit back a few curses and thanked the Force that he could use it, otherwise he suspected he would have driven through a dozen obstacles.

"I don't think anyone who drives one of these things isn't Force sensitive," Jacen muttered.

To his surprise, Tenel Ka smiled at his comment, and he bumped the building.

"Frak. I'll be happy when I have my ship back." Jacen said.

"Your ship is a hundred times the mass of this truck," Tenel Ka reminded him as she removed her crash restraint and opened the door.

"Still easier to maneuver."

Jacen and Tenel Ka proceeded to the door marked "Driver's Entrance" in seven different languages and found a small square room with dirty beige walls and a few chairs along one wall. In the middle of the room was an eight-armed droid sitting behind a rickety wooden desk sorting through piles of flimsy.

"Greetings, sentients," the droid said and held out one of its arms as the other arms continued working without interruption. "Documentation?"

Tenel Ka handed over the documents and twenty seconds later, the door behind the droid's desk opened.

"Cyrus and Sera?" a Twi'lek wearing overalls asked. "Got a problem with your load. Can you help us out?"

They followed the Twi'lek into the warehouse space and Jacen couldn't help but marvel at the sheer volume of _everything_. There were rows of racks that extended as far as he could see, piled with goods from floor to ceiling. One row appeared to be entirely full of bottled water, enough to fill a small lake.

"ID?" the Twi'lek asked, removing a glove to activate a blue sapphire Black Vornskr ring. Jacen activated off his own Corusca ring in response.

"We don't have much time," the Twi'lek said as they slowly walked toward door fourteen. "The communication was vague. What is it you need?"

"I need in depth information on Synergy Technology."

"Frak off," the Twi'lek said, his eyes going wide. He looked around to double check that nobody was in ear shot before speaking again. "Synergy is bad news. Nobody investigates them."

"We understand they used to ship product through here," Tenel Ka said. "Could you provide some insight?"

"No, you don't get it," he continued. "People go missing when they look at Synergy too closely. We had sealed shipments go through here for a month. Someone accidentally bumped a crate open, and we lost the contract. And nobody saw him or his family again."

"Why wasn't this reported to the authorities?"

"Because we like our families still breathing," the Twi'lek said. "Everything is very closely guarded about that company. They call it trade secrets, but we know they're hiding more. Nobody else hires mercs to protect electronics shipments."

They arrived at door 14 in time to watch the last crate be removed from the truck.

"What did you need help with anyway?" the Twi'lek asked the load lift driver. "Who's wasting my time with this nonsense?"

"Sorry, sir," the load lifter driver said. "We didn't ask for help. This truck is ready to go."

"That damned droid up front must be malfunctioning again," he said. "Good work team, keep it up. Cyrus, I'll walk you back to the door."

Once out of earshot on their way out of the warehouse, Jacen said "Nicely played."

"One nice thing about working in a warehouse is that it's too busy for people to care about much more than getting whatever they're doing done."

"Do you know anyone who might know something about Synergy?"

They walked along with only the sounds of the load lifters driving around to fill the silence until they were almost at the door.

"An old friend of mine got a job there about a year ago. He left about a month ago and has been on the run ever since. He changed his name and is working maintenance on Knol Station above Knolstee. It's one of the few places in the Corporate Sector that Synergy has little need for, but the scum of the galaxy enjoy hiding there."

"What's his name?"

"I don't know," the Twi'lek said with a smile. "Never told me his new one. When you find him, tell him Riki sent you. Now get outta my warehouse."


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I've been really busy on Fridays and I keep forgetting to post. Here's Chapter 5.

The flight to Knolstee took a couple days during which Jacen and Tenel Ka spent some time training Ami to use her new lightsaber, often with the assistance of HK-47 and a low powered blaster. Like on Abo Dreth, when they arrived at the space station Jacen had insisted that Ami stay behind on the ship, despite her vocal protests.

"Perhaps Ami could have been of use," Tenel Ka said as they left the chilly hanger bay and entered the main promenade area of the enormous space station.

"She's plenty useful where she is," Jacen said as they wandered towards the shopping area, hand in hand. "She'll be able to hack into the maintenance system and find our mystery man from the ship. Besides, I miss spending time alone with my wife."

To his surprise, Tenel Ka returned his smile easily and they continued walking. They both passively took in the other sentients around them, watching as both fear and arrogance aided to the attention that they got from the locals as they wandered through the shops looking for supplies they didn't really need. Their shopping trip quickly brought out the teenager playfulness that they had when they had first become friends, with Jacen making silly jokes and Tenel Ka trying her best to not laugh at his antics. One thing Jacen noticed was that since her capture and torture, Tenel Ka had begun to smile easier, and today was no exception. He truly felt that her strength was helping her overcome that nightmarish ordeal and become a better person because of it.

After a couple hours, they finally found a bar to enjoy some drinks in and watch a hoverball match with far less interest than most of the inhabitants. When the Etti Smashers scored, most of the patrons let out a deafening cheer and banged on the tables and bar with overplayed enthusiasm.

"It isn't like Etti is going to lose," Jacen said, leaning across the table a bit closer to Tenel Ka. "Synergy bought the best players in the league. They only thing worth more to Synergy than most of that team is my dead body."

" _Womprat Hole to Piranha Beetle,"_ Ami's voice buzzed in their ears, interrupting her response. " _Come in fearless leader who has shavit names for everything."_

Jacen rolled his eyes and used the Force to depress the push-to-talk button on his ear piece. "Go ahead, Womprat Hole."

" _I found our guy. He's actually pretty cute going by his ID badge."_

"Did you set up a date?"

" _Yeah, he's coming to you now. He is damn good with computers. I think I met my match. We started chatting and we even have the same taste in music."_

Jacen and Tenel Ka exchanged weary glances.

" _Any chance_ I _could have a date with him instead of you?_ "

"Excuse me?" A nervous man a little bit older than Jacen asked. He was wearing a nondescript leather jacket over service overalls and was carrying a drink. "Were you inquiring about a droid memory wipe?"

"I think you have the wrong table," Jacen replied with a polite smile.

" _That's him!"_ Ami shouted. " _I told him to ask about a droid memory wipe. It's the codeword phrase."_

"Tell me that first next time!" Jacen growled and went after the man. "Sorry, sir, I was confused. My wife had made that inquiry about the droid memory wipe."

"Oh, good," the man said and followed Jacen back to the table where he took Jacen's seat facing the bar, and Jacen sat across from him beside Tenel Ka. "I'm Javers. I work in station maintenance but I do droid repair on the side."

"Don't try to run," Jacen said in a low voice, opening his jacket slightly to show off the end of one of his lightsabers tucked into his chest holster. He began using the Force to muffle the sounds around them, creating a sphere of privacy. "Riki sent me. He said you used to work for Synergy and might be able to help us."

Javers looked down into his drink. "Okay. Okay, you found me."

"We suspect what we think you know," Jacen continued.

Javers looked up at Jacen again. He hesitated for a couple moments, opening and closing his mouth a couple times before any sound came out.

"Y-You found the hidden spy routine…"

"Yes. We want to destroy it. You can trust us. We're Jedi."

"Oh," Javers's shoulders dropped with visible relief. "I thought you were Bogans. Tell me what you know. I'll fill in the blanks."

Jacen's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. He supposed he could always wipe Javer's memories if things went south. "We believe Sherdoy is using the LinkComs as the back bone of recreating Black Sun by stealing data from all the users."

"He is," Javers said enthusiastically. "I-I-I may have built it. But you can't hold me to that!"

"You built the spy network?"

"It was genius," Javers grinned sheepishly. "So well hidden. So perfectly designed. It was a team of us. I was the lead. We thought we were making something else entirely; a way to slip user usage data into the data streams so we could keep track of how people used the LinkComs and improve our software and hardware over time. Sherdoy saw a different application and modified our coding. We started noticing what the data sets were collecting and when we approached him…I barely got out alive."

"We need information to apprehend him," Tenel Ka said. "Could you assist?"

"I-I kept copies," Javers said. He reached down to his tool belt and pulled out a spanner with interchangeable tips. He opened the hollow end that held the tips and dumped them onto the table as a loud exploding cheer made its way through Jacen's sound screen, startling the mechanic. The bits scattered across the table, and Jacen quickly snatched the plastic-enclosed data card that had been hidden with the bits.

"No need to worry," Jacen said. "Etti just scored another goal."

"What is on the data card?" Tenel Ka inquired.

"Dirt," Javers said, collecting the bits one at a time and popping them back into the spanner. "The spy routine itself. Data logs. M-Most of the software I developed. F-financial records. Some out-dated docking codes. Building fire route plans. Umm…"

"Something else?" Jacen asked after the other man went quiet. Jacen looked at him and he was blushing and unable to make eye contact.

"M-maybe some…uh…images of…umm…Twi'leki dancing girls. Could you delete that before…?"

"I'll take care of it. Here's something for your trouble." Jacen handed over a small bag with around a thousand credits worth inside it. "Thank you for your help, Javers. This may be what we need."

Javers smiled once more and stood up, leaving the two Jedi behind.

"Too easy?" Tenel Ka asked.

"Hard to tell," Jacen said, slipping the data card into his breast pocket. "He seemed sincere. I didn't get any sense of decept…"

A cold chill crawled up Jacen's spine as two new customers walked into the bar. He sat up straight, taking in a deep breath as his senses brought forth the memories of pain he had been enduring every night for the last couple months. He felt his anger bubble to the surface and Tenel Ka put a hand on his, squeezing it gently.

"Jacen, it is not worth it," she cautioned, but Jacen shook his head.

"No. I'm not putting up with this anymore. I'm going to end this."

Jacen stood up and crossed the bar, pushing through the crowd of game watchers to approach the two new patrons. The disheveled, poorly dressed woman was clearly under the influence of several substances and was hanging off the man for stability, who was in no better state himself. They were both laughing at something that probably wasn't funny as they stumbled up to the bar and put in their order before turning their attention to snogging each other. Jacen walked up to the woman, pulled her by the right shoulder to face him, drew back his fist, and punched her right across the jaw with enough power to spin her around completely before she dropped between the bar and the stool she had been sitting on.

"Hey!" the boyfriend exclaimed as she nursed her face. He grabbed Jacen's arm and tried to return the punch, but Jacen grabbed the man's wrist and squeezed it with Force enhanced strength until he felt both wrist bones snap. While the man screamed, Jacen grabbed the man's shirt with both hands, heaved him above his head and chucked him a few metres away where he landed on top of a table and slid off it to the ground, taking several drinks and dishes with him. Shouts of outrage followed, but Jacen ignored them. Fuming with rage, Jacen turned his attention back to the woman who had partially recovered from his punch.

"You're coming with me."

"Frak off, asshole," she spat back, still massaging her jaw. "I'm stayin' here."

"No fighting in my bar," the bartender said. Jacen finally noticed that the bar staff – and about three quarters of the patrons – were all pointing blasters at him. To his own surprise, his first thought was wondering how many of them had she slept with. "Leave right now, boy. You're not welcome here"

"I'll leave when she comes with me," Jacen replied, undeterred by the firepower pointed at him.

"Frak offffff, Jacen!" she shouted semi-coherently, still dazed from the punch or the drugs. Or both. "I not going back!"

"You don't seem to understand," the barkeep said, adjusting his aim from Jacen's chest to head. "The lady doesn't want your company."

"Maybe _you_ don't understand, barkeep," Jacen sneered. "I'm not the one who's scared."

Time slowed around Jacen as he glared at the aggressive patrons around him. He felt the protectiveness of every person there as if they all had an invested interest in her, but he could sense the deeper truth. His suspicions were right – she was the bar whore. He even recognized some of them from his visions of her drug-assisted sexual encounters. He turned that knowledge around and drew on it to fuel his rage.

As he pulled the power of the Force to his command, a glass on the bar began to shake, followed by all the glasses, followed by everything in the bar bouncing around from tables to chairs and even the patrons. The first blaster bolt that was fired ended the tremors, but created a monster.

Jacen snatched the blaster bolt out of the air with his right hand and threw it back at the barkeeper, burning a hole right through the man's blaster and shoulder. Blaster bolts came at him from all directions at once, but Jacen held his hands out and created an electrical matrix around himself, a ball of iridescent light that absorbed the blaster fire to make itself stronger. When everyone realized their attacks were doing nothing, in a mere fraction of a second Jacen absorbed all the energy and pushed it outward in an electro-kinetic shockwave that sent everyone flying away from him, except for Tenel Ka and the woman beside him. Bottles of alcohol exploded as people, tables and chairs slammed against the walls around him, but his only focus was on one particular mess of a woman that was muttering at his feet.

"You frakin' asshole. You're jus' a frakin' asshole..."

Jacen met her glare equal contempt that she held for him. He grabbed her by her tattered shirt collar and pulled her to his face.

"Better an asshole than a cheap death stick whore," Jacen responded. "And to think you were once my sister."

Whatever Jaina wanted to say was cut off when Jacen twisted her collar in his hand and dragged her out of the bar, choking her into following him.

Tenel Ka followed them out of the bar and, together, they brought Jaina back to the _Solo Quest_ as she found a remarkable number of choice words for her brother despite being choked by his grip. After about two minutes of screaming profanities at him, she finally passed out, so Jacen hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her. While the three of them received many curious looks from the sentients around them, Jacen merely walked on without acknowledging them. Even the station security personnel, who had watched the rather unusual bar fight, seemed unsure of how to handle the situation.

They finally arrived at the ship and Jacen carried her into the infirmary. He dropped her onto the bed somewhat harder than he normally would have and secured her with three wide leather straps across her chest and arms, thighs, and neck.

Turning to the cabinet behind him, he pulled out an IV, a saline bag, a phial of a strong sedative, and a vital sign sensor.

After placing the sensor on her forehead, he pulled up her shirt sleeve and saw multiple small red dots near her elbow – needle holes where she had been injecting herself with drugs. He grit his teeth and insert the needle into the vein, taping it down with medical tape to secure it. He injected the dose of sedative into the IV access line and watched her vitals until he felt she was safe. He leaned back against the medical counter behind him and shook his head, staring at her unconscious form. Despite Jaina's disheveled appearance and torn clothes, she almost looked peaceful.

"Would you mind flying the _Quest_?" Jacen quietly asked Tenel Ka when he sensed her and Ami at the door. "I need to find the _Falcon_ and put it somewhere safe."

"We are capable of flying your ship," Tenel Ka said elusively. "What will we do about Jaina?"

"As long as she's not downing Death Sticks and fraking half the space station, I couldn't give a womprat's ass about her right now. I'm half inclined to lock her up on the _Falcon_ when I mothball it and leave her there to rot."

"You don't mean that."

Jacen looked at Tenel Ka with a mixture of hurt and anger.

"Every time she drinks one of those fraking Death Sticks, I feel like someone's driving an ice pick through my heart," Jacen said. "I can't have her doing that when we're in the middle of a battle. She's aiming to get both of us killed whether she knows it or not, so I'm going to keep her ass sedated until I get those frakin' drugs out of her system and knock sense into that empty skull of hers. She's not the only one who lost Dad and countless other people we care about."

Tears began leaking out of his eyes and his lower lip trembled, but he pushed on. "You don't see me shooting up. I'm still out there fighting this war and getting a front row seat to her shooting up and getting gang raped every frakin' night! I'm done with her shavit!"

"Gang raped?" Tenel Ka asked in disbelief, watching in shock as her husband unsuccessfully fought against anguish he had been carrying for months from showing on his face. Ami looked at Jacen in stunned horror, covering her open mouth when she finally put together the connection between Jaina's condition and what had happened to him the night they were drinking. Tenel Ka approached him and took her hands in his, looking up into his brandy brown eyes. "Jacen, all the pain, the nightmares..."

"I see _everything_ ," Jacen said, tears streaming from his eyes as he looked at his wife with vulnerability so alien to the strong man she had married that she almost wasn't sure it was him anymore. "I feel _everything_. The drugs send everything from her to me. I see everything that she does even if she doesn't. Do you want to know what it feels like to be raped by half a dozen swoop bikers? I know because my _fraking twin sister is a drug addict bar whore!_ "

He finally collapsed against Tenel Ka. He sobbed for several long minutes as Tenel Ka struggled against her own tears. When he finally stopped and was just hugging his wife with tears soaking her red hair and shoulder, she finally spoke.

"We will help Jaina," she said in the calm, strong voice that Jacen had found comfort in for over half his life. "She can find no better care than with you."

A low growl came from outside the infirmary and Jacen's head shot up, startling Ami with his glare. With a threat to his family, his walls and laser-sharp focus were back.

"You two stay here and protect her," Jacen whispered. He pulled a lightsaber from his belt and dropped into stealth mode, lowering his Force presence while using it to kill any sound as he moved toward Astro. He knelt down and placed a hand on the Vornskr's head, receiving an empathic pulse.

 _Intruder_.

Together the vornskr and Jedi spread out silently through the circular centre of the ship, Jacen going left toward the passenger sitting area via the cargo bay as Astro went right through the crew quarter section toward the boarding ramp. Using the Force, Jacen disengaged the door latch on the cargo bay and opened it silently, slipped through the half open door into the dark room, and closed it behind him. He heard the control panel on the other door being activated, so he silently sprinted and rolled across the room, careful not to be seen through the door window, and pressed his back against the wall beside the second door.

The door slid open and a blond-haired head popped through, looking in the direction opposite of Jacen. Without hesitating, he grabbed the person with the Force and flung him across the cargo bay against a stack of training dummies. He activated his brother's lightsaber, casting the intruder into a violet light and advanced on him, using the Force to impose fear into the red-haired man.

"Why are you on my ship?" Jacen demanded in a modified deep, husky voice.

In response, the blond-haired man pulled a long lightsaber hilt out of his jacket and activated the bright yellow blade that lit up his face. Jacen noticed the man had to be a mere few years younger than himself.

"Give me Jemma and we can both walk away peacefully."

"Who the frak is Jemma?"

"You're the worst of the worst," the man muttered and stood up, carefully keeping his lightsaber blade between them.

Jacen noticed his hilt design had two hand-width choked sections on either side of the activation module in the middle, and a pointed pommel. The design would give his opponent a great deal of leverage and strength while maintaining considerable manoeuvrability. However, the weight and balance would depend on having two hands on the hilt at all times.

"You have no idea what the worst is," Jacen said, already planning his strategy. "You broke into my ship; get out, or get killed. I really don't care right now."

Further conversation was cut off as Jacen deflected five fast blows and returned seven of his own to drive the man back out of combat range. They both turned in a circle to assess the other, Jacen with his blade held casually at his side, the other man in a classic Niman stance with his lightsaber pointed at Jacen's knee.

"You sure you want to do this?" Jacen asked. "I am not having a good day right now."

"Your day is about to get worse," the man said. "I am Tos Montoya. You have taken my charge into slavery. Prepare to die!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you, kid," Jacen said. He flicked his blade down, spun it in two quick figure-eights and threw himself at the other man, lightsaber leading the charge.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen smashed his lightsaber against Tos's and followed with a quick front kick to the man's gut which was narrowly avoided. Keeping Tos off balance by keeping their blades locked Jacen turned and slammed the back of his elbow against the other man's jaw, sending him staggering back out of attack range. Jacen launched a quick Vaapad attack routine to push Tos back against the wall, but an Obi-Wan Kenobi-worthy Soresu defense kept both combatants locked in a point-counterpoint battle that flashed on at increasing speed until Jacen drew his second lightsaber and brought it into the battle, contrasting the flares of yellow and violet light flaring through the cargo bay with emerald green.

As Jacen tried a risky move of momentarily disengaging, Tos threw a kick to the chest and knocked Jacen back several paces where they both stopped to assess each other.

"You wield the blade of a Jedi Master," Tos said, his eyes squinting at Jacen's green blade. "I hope it was not the corpse of one of my grandfather's friends you plucked it from."

Tos took two steps toward Jacen and swung his lightsaber in a two-handed blow aimed at his head, and was surprised when his yellow blade passed through Jacen's head easily without even a slight reaction from his opponent. Tos watched in further surprise as his opponent dissolved into wisps of smoke and powerful kick to his mid-back sent him soaring across the room where he slammed against the wall and tumbled to the ground.

"Neat trick," Tos said as he rolled to his back and used the Force to try suppressing the pain. He looked for his lightsaber, but it was already in Jacen's hand.

"Illusion," Jacen corrected and crossed the green and yellow lightsaber blades at Tos's neck. "Tricks are for whores. Why the frak are you on my ship?"

"Who is buying Jemma?"

"She's my sister, and a Jedi Master, you sick bastard," Jacen kicked the man in the chest for emphasis. "She's been using, and I'm putting an end to it."

"Oh," Tos's eyes went wide.

"Who are you?"

"Koros, Micha, Aura, seven."

Jacen took two steps back in surprise and deactivated the lightsabers. He attached his lightsaber to his belt and offered a hand to help the other man to his feet.

"I'm sorry. I had no idea," Jacen said. "Welcome back. I'm Jedi Master Jacen Solo."

"Jedi Shadow Sal Carver," he replied. "My apologies for the false identification and erroneous judgement."

"I can see how you would come to that conclusion."

"Jacen?" Tenel Ka's voice came from behind Jacen. He turned to see her enter with Astro and Ami at her side. Astro's hackles were raised, but did not growl at the intruder.

"Sal, this is my wife Tenel Ka, my cousin Ami, and my vornskr Astro," Jacen said. "Tenel Ka, Sal Carver is from a rare class of Jedi known as Sentinels. They typically work in extreme deep cover, but, you must have been trained by an Old Republic Jedi to know that security code."

"My grandfather was Marcus Carver," Sal said. "We've been carrying the family tradition since the clone troopers wiped out the Jedi Order. He was so far under cover he didn't even find out about Order 66 until three months after the temple had been razed. Without the Jedi Council to report to, he began operating on his own, blending in to protect those that need it as he saw fit. I came across Jemma only yesterday. I could sense the Force within her and that she needed help. I'm sorry I couldn't help sooner."

"You're lucky you found me," Jacen handed the other man back his lightsaber and shook his head. "I'm probably the only other person alive who knows that code. Not many Jedi know about the Sentinels anymore."

"The Force must have led me here."

"I guess so," Jacen said and smiled. "Well, it was nice to meet you and I appreciate you trying to help, but I'll take care of her from here."

"What will you do with her?"

"Detox," Jacen said. "Jedi style. I need to wait for the sedatives to stabilize in her system before I can start the process. You wouldn't happen to know where her ship is?"

"Docking bay 12," Sal supplied.

"Thanks, I can take it from here," Jacen said.

Sal merely shook his head. "The Force guided me here for a reason. You still need me."

"Fine, you come with me," Jacen rolled his eyes, sending the other man's ill-placed loyalty towards his sister. "Tenel Ka, get the ship ready to launch. I'll signal you when I have the _Falcon_."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

His foot twitched slightly, moving forward a few centimetres and he put a little bit of his weight on it. The muscles in his legs flexed a little bit, but under weight the knee quickly gave out. Luke caught himself quickly and pulled himself back onto the two parallel bars he was trying to walk between.

"At least my arms are getting a workout," Luke muttered to himself.

"Five more steps, master," the far-too-optimistic physio-droid encouraged him. "You've almost reached the end of your required exercise."

"No, I'm done now," Luke said. "Get my chair."

A series of tweets came from the door, and Luke turned his head to see Artoo-Detoo rolling towards him.

"My legs aren't working, Artoo," Luke said. "This is a waste of time."

Artoo emitted a rude noise and began chirping and tweeting. Luke slowly eased himself away from the droid as best he could as Artoo continued what was possibly the longest, angriest series of statements he had ever heard the little astromech say. When he tried to interrupt, Artoo turned up his volume and continued his rant. Finally, the bottom wheel dropped out of the droid and it turned and drove out of the physio room, still chirping away.

"Forgive me master, but I'm afraid I did not understand your astromech," the physio droid said. "May you translate please?"

Luke swallowed hard.

"He…he reminded me of what I was like when I trained with Yoda," Luke said, somewhat abashedly. He didn't translate the part about the news report on Mara and Ben's mission that heightened his sense of urgency. "I need to keep going." _Mara needs me_.

"Very good, master," the droid said. "Five more steps."

Luke looked down at his feet and got himself back into position to start walking again. As Artoo had bleeped, Yoda proved to him that anything was possible if he trusted the Force. This time, Luke reached into the Force and let it be his back, let it control his legs. With a bit of concentration he eased his weight onto his feet. This time his legs were strong, held by his conviction to save his family.

"Excellent progress, master."

Shakily, his left foot went in front of the right and took his weight. Then the right moved in front of the left.

With the Force as his ally, Luke began to walk again.


	7. Chapter 6

"I thought you said you knew which hanger it was in," Jacen said for the fourth time as he followed Sal around the space station. He was quickly losing all tolerance for the Jedi Sentinel and was ready to leave him behind and look for the _Falcon_ on his own.

"All the corridors look the same," Sal said defensively. "I only got here yesterday."

"Did you notice the numbers on the doors?" Jacen asked in a far snarkier tone than he intended. "Stop. This is getting us nowhere. Let me try something."

Jacen closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. A few moments later he felt the echo he was looking for and turned around. He marched into the nearest lift with Sal on his heels, punched a button on the guidance of the Force, and together waited in silence with the dozen or so others that were riding the lift with them. At the appropriate level they exited and Jacen took the lead, marching through the sparse crowd until he came to docking bay 14.

"This is the wrong part of the station," Sal said.

"We'll see," Jacen replied. He put a hand over the security panel and let the Force guide him into punching the correct sequence of keys in to open the door. Once the door opened, they walked into the hanger to find half a dozen men in an eclectic mix of clothing that seemed to match based on colour alone surrounding the _Millennium Falcon_. The one that Jacen sensed as the leader wore a higher ratio of red offsetting the black of his 'uniform' compared to the others, and, if it weren't for Jacen's mood, he might have felt inclined to laugh at the man's bright red hair sticking up in a single row along the top of his head.

"Oy," the leader called out. "Private docking bay here!"

"That's my ship," Jacen said, walking right up to the leader. He could sense everyone in the room tense, but did not draw his lightsabers.

"No, see, I bought it," the leader said, holding up a document that, unfortunately for Jacen, held Jaina's recognizable signature on it. "So go frak yourself."

"One hundred thousand credits," Jacen said, doubling the figure he had glanced from the document. "That's my only monetary offer for the ship."

"Hundred thousand?" the man laughed. "That's the _Millennium Falcon._ Han Solo's ship. Bought it from his daughter."

"The ship wasn't hers to sell," Jacen said. "She's not the legal owner."

"Says right here she was. The girl owed me money. Thought she'd try to skim me out of some death sticks, but I caught her. She traded it fair and square. Who are you, anyway?"

"Her brother."

"Jacen Solo?" the drug-dealing leader said appraisingly. "There's a bounty on you."

"It was raised to two hundred million credits this morning to bring me in dead," Jacen said nonchalantly. "They're saying it's the highest bounty ever placed on one person, even after inflation. They don't even want me alive."

Each of the drug dealers around the _Falcon_ seemed to agree that he was better off not alive and made blaster pistols appear out of nowhere, but Jacen merely sighed. Sal's hand moved closer to his lightsaber, but he waited for Jacen's cue.

"Give me the ship back, I'll pay you a hundred thousand credits for your trouble, and we'll both walk away. No harm, no foul."

"Naw, I'm thinking I got me a couple hundred million credits standin' in front o' me."

"There's a reason why the Bounty Hunter guild is recommending to their members that they leave me alone," Jacen said. "Are you willing to risk finding out why?"

The man hesitated, so Jacen took a step forward and had his right hand on the man's throat before anyone could react. With the Force to help him, he lifted the heavier man off the ground and held him at arm's length. "Let me bottom line this for you: You have a priceless family heirloom of mine in your possession which I will not leave without. You can't possibly fly that ship without knowing what my family knows about the modifications my dad made to it, and you're being offered a lot of money to give it back to me and go frak yourself. I am a Jedi Master that Darth Krayt himself couldn't kill, and I have a Jedi Knight with me who is admittedly half decent with a lightsaber."

"Hey, I held you off pretty well," Sal said, but a flicker of empathic anger from Jacen silenced him.

"Including yourself, you have seven men," Jacen continued, squeezing the drug dealer's throat a bit tighter. "With blasters that I've already disabled. You have virtually no chance of surviving a fight with me, much less collecting the bounty. Since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you one last offer: One hundred thousand credits for the ship, no bloodshed, and you can sell information about my whereabouts to whoever the frak you want. Do we have a deal?"

The drug dealer appraised Jacen one last time and looked back at his men who were all trying to figure out why the power indicators on their blasters were dead. He finally nodded, and Jacen put him back on his own feet.

"Bogan Imperial credits, if it isn't a problem."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With the _Falcon_ safely stored in a cave on the first planet of the Dostra System, a nameless scorching hot wasteland of a rock with no atmosphere that both orbited the sun and rotated at nauseating speeds, the crew of the _Solo Quest_ continued their mission to Etti IV using the time in hyperspace to sort through the data collected by Javers and make a plan to confront the CEO of Synergy.

"We should send this to Eriana," Ami suggested when they sat down to discuss their findings. "This data is too important to keep in one place. We need multiple copies."

"I left one on the _Falcon_ ," Jacen said.

"Which nobody but us knows where it is…" Amy drawled.

"We'll send a copy, and the coordinates of the _Falcon,_ to the Jedi," Jacen said, glaring at her for interrupting him. "Mom would want to know about our progress."

"I will prepare the data packets for when we drop out of hyperspace," Tenel Ka said, tapping a note into her datapad with her right hand. Jacen had noticed that his wife was still doing certain tasks with only one hand, still not yet having readjusted to life with two. He had been keeping a close eye on her during their mission, still worried about her post-traumatic stress disorder, but she seemed as focused now as she had when they were learning lightsaber drills as teenagers.

"We should also include key findings," Tenel Ka said and looked up at HK-47, Sal, Jacen and Ami sitting around the small passenger area. "What have you found?"

Jacen was about to say something when Ami spoke up.

"I was going through some of the technical data that I figured nobody else would be interested in," Ami said quickly. "And one thing that my future husband was working on was using the spy routine system to piggyback his own communications through their secure servers to extract the data that was flowing in. Unfortunately, the firewall is configured for inbound traffic only, which is preventing the data from coming back out."

Jacen opened his mouth, but Ami continued after a quick breath.

"So I started looking into what hardware they're using to see if I could piggyback a virus in on the inbound traffic that the firewall would intercept and have the code decompile itself while it is being analyzed to force some of the outgoing ports open, thereby granting me access to their internal network on those ports."

Jacen and Tenel Ka stared at Ami with blank stares, but Sal spoke up.

"They'd have alarms set up to identify when the ports are opened," Sal said. "Not to mention you need to know exactly what hardware and software they're using otherwise it'll be filtered as malware, not an admin change."

"Unless someone wants to sneak in there and tie a subspace transceiver into the mainframe to give me access."  
"No good," Jacen said. "Javers indicated that they use subspace frequency jammers around all of the server rooms. It seems to be standard practice these days."

"Oh, we could use a wireless device standard," Ami said excitedly. "They wouldn't filter those frequencies because they probably use the same ones for the internal office network…"

"The range would be prohibitive," Sal argued. "You'd have to be within fifty metres of the access point and the server room is several kilometres underground. Not to mention they're probably using biometric encryption on their credentials, so unless you want to find an employee and cut their fingers off…"

"Then I'd need someone to hardwire a connection back to me to gain access."

"And, why exactly do we need to get into their servers?" Jacen finally asked.

"To access the surveillance system so we can sneak around in there and so you can trap and kidnap Sherdoy."

"Wouldn't we need that in order to get into the server room?"

Ami opened her mouth to say something but she fell silent and her shoulders sagged when she realized the circular logic Jacen had just presented.

"Perhaps someone of your technical expertise could find employment there?" Tenel Ka suggested. "Would they not provide you with access to everything?"

"My resume is so out of date," Ami groaned. "I hate updating it."

"You'll probably want to make a fake one," Sal said. "Wow them with amazing skills you don't have."

"You don't know half of the amazing skills I do have, thank you very much," Ami said indignantly. "I was trained by Ghent and Talon Karrde themselves. I can hack just about anything that is hackable. If I can connect to it."

"We can't wait a month for her to go through three interviews and a background check that will probably fail." Jacen cut off Sal's reply. "We need to move faster than that."

"Okay, Jedi Master Super Pessimist, what do you think we should do?"

"Query: Master, may I suggest a course of action?"

Everyone turned to face HK-47, and Jacen nodded.

"Explanation: Master, my analysis of the data presented is complete. While meatbag Javers had a particularly interesting taste in recreational material, his notes regarding the activities of Chief Executive meatbag Sherdoy show a measure of predictability in his activities."

"What do you mean?" Sal asked.

"Query: Why is the new meatbag speaking to me? Master, may I blast him?"

"No," Jacen said. "Please elaborate on the predictability of Sherdoy, and please refer to only Sherdoy as 'Meatbag' for this mission. Everyone, that's our codename for him going forward."

"Statement: It appears that the time stamp codes on all of Javers's notations regarding visits from Meatbag occur between 1100 and 1130 each day. On sixty nine of his notations, he makes reference to Meatbag coming from the product development team, and on fifty one notations he refers to Meatbag proceeding 'back' to the marketing team. Among the three hundred and ninety eight entries, these are the only destinations within the company that Meatbag appears to visit, and always in this order.

"Analysis: This would imply that Meatbag is quite habitual in daily rounds of visiting the marketing team, the product development team, the customer analysis team approximately around 1000 hours to 1100 hours, and back to the marketing team.

"Happy conclusion: A habitual meatbag is a dead meatbag, Master."

"Good work, Womprat," Jacen said.

"Your droid is scary," Sal said, glaring at the rusty red, yellow-eyed droid with apprehension.

"He does that," Jacen shrugged off the comment. "But the question is; how do we take advantage of this?"

"Obvious answer: We plant incendiary devices along his route, master. Meatbags are always more agreeable as carbon dust."

"Aaaaand we're back to square one," Jacen said. "We need him alive."

"Query: May we maim the Meatbag with low-powered explosives?"

"You might be onto something, HK," Ami said seriously. "If we can get inside, we can catch him on his daily routine. We just need a way to get through the front door and get him out without arousing supsicions."

"Javers wrote about visiting a co-worker one day in his log," Tenel Ka said. "He even noted the employee's address. Perhaps one of us could impersonate this employee?"

"And, having the address," Ami said with a smile. "We could find this person in their sleep, drug them, and take their access card. And _impressions_ of their fingers, if necessary."

"I don't want just one of us in there," Jacen said. "Tenel Ka, Sal and I will go together. What part of the company did this person work in?"

Ami looked ready to protest, but Tenel Ka cut her off without realizing it.

"He worked on the same consumer data collection project as Javers."

"Oh," Sal said, his eyes lighting up like a child getting a lifeday present. "This guy probably has remote access to the network from his house."

"Depends on the company's telecommuting policy," Jacen said. "Ami, if that's the case, do you think you can slice into the network remotely using his remote credentials? That could be the ideal access point. If you can get into the surveillance system you can be our eyes and ears on the inside, and plant the virus remotely."

"But I'm your apprentice," Ami finally blurted, her face blushing red. "We're supposed to work together side-by-side all the time, not me sitting in front of a computer when you're doing all the fun stuff. You can't just pick and choose when I get to be your apprentice or not!"

"Unless slicing into a computer network involves using knives," Tenel Ka said with a small shadow of a smile at the corner of her mouth. "I believe my skills are better suited towards kidnapping than slicing."

"Exactly," Jacen said. "You're the only one of us who can slice into the network and put that virus into their system to kill their database. Neither of us could do that to save our lives. But kidnapping some guy? That's our line of thuggery. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get to use your new lightsaber sooner than you expect."

Ami's disappointment was evident from her expression, but she didn't say anything. Astro walked up to her and put his chin on her leg in comfort, and she scratched his ears in response.

"What if we don't take the server out just yet?" Sal suggested. "Why don't we use Ami's idea to set up a connection and install a link between the corporate Holonet connection and the database that we can tap into to access the information ourselves remotely without needing encrypted access?"

"Our own back door into the biggest spy network," Ami said. "It'd be huge for the war effort."

"We could also plant misinformation into their database as we see fit," Tenel Ka chipped in.

"I like it," Ami said. "But I need to get some specialized equipment, and I need someone who knows their network equipment to install it. I can't be in two places at once if I'm watching the surveillance feeds."

"I can do that while the Solos capture Sherdoy," Sal suggested.

"I like this," Jacen said with a smile. "I can think of a few people who would love to see what Black Sun is really up to."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"And where do you think you're going?"

A low two-tone tweet from Artoo confirmed Luke's suspicions that he was about to get an earful from his sister. He eased his way around the engine of the skiff he was inspecting, still steadying himself with his hands against the ship as his shaky legs moved him to get a better view of Leia, who was standing a few metres away with her arms crossed over her chest and a vicious scowl on her face.

"Mara and Ben need me," Luke said. "Artoo found a report…"

"I read the report," Leia snapped. "They're being held on Bastion. In a fortress of a prison, on a fortress of a planet. And you can barely walk."

"I'll get better," Luke insisted. "I'm getting stronger every hour. The Force is my ally."

"A couple of days ago you were trying to give away your lightsaber because you said you're too old to fight anymore," Leia said. "And now you want to rush into battle?"

"Mara and Ben need me," Luke snapped. "Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same for Han."

Leia's jaw clenched at the mention of her late husband, but she didn't make a remark. After a staring contest that felt like hours were passing, Leia finally spoke.

"I'm going with you."

"I can't let you," Luke said. "You need to watch your grandchildren."

Before Leia could protest a new voice cut into the conversation.

"Master Skywalker, we're here to help."

The new voice turned both Luke and Leia's heads towards three people who were on approach from the Jedi village. With sacks over their shoulders and their lightsaber hilts brightly gleaming in the sun on their belts, Nelani Dinn, Jysella Horn and Chitter stood ready to board Luke's ship.

"Help with…?"

"The Jedi Council has ordered us to rescue Mara Jade and Ben Skywalker," Nelani said. "Master Hamner recommended that we coordinate our efforts with you since you're, I quote, 'too stubborn to not do anything.'"

"Well, he pegged you right," Leia said sarcastically.

Before Luke could say anything, Leia continued. "Tionne and Kam have already offered to babysit, and Zonoma Sekot would do anything to protect Jacen's children. I'm going with you."

Artoo bleeped away at Luke and he finally shook his head. "Everyone aboard."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Carimo had never been a heavy sleeper. Even before he started working for Synergy Technologies in the high-stress Consumer Data Acquisition Department, he still slept lightly. Growing up as the middle of seven brothers, he quickly learned how to sleep with one eye open to avoid being caught in any of the many pranks they had pulled on each other over the years.

This night, when the door to his apartment clicked and woke him, Carimo knew it wasn't his brothers trying to catch him for a prank. All six of them had been killed during the Yuuzhan Vong war, and he had been spared the same grisly fate because the only backwater outer rim university he could afford to go to was on a planet far from the path of the extragalactic invaders.

He reached over to his bedside table and silently opened the drawer to extract the blaster, an old DL-44 he bought off a trader during the war, and checked the charge on it. Satisfied, he pulled the sheets off himself and slid to the floor in a crouch, blaster at the ready. He had left his door open when he went to bed and he could hear some noise from the main living space where the intruders had seemed to have settled into. He approached the door cautiously and kept his blaster pointed toward the door until he was out of his bedroom and was ready to turn the corner into his living space. His heart pounded in his chest as he took a deep breath to ready himself to enter the room, but a sharp pain at the base of his skull sent him into darkness.

Carimo woke up sometime later, but he could not see or move. No, he could see. His problem was that he couldn't see past the black cloth bag that had been put over his head. The chair he was tied to did not help his situation much either.

"Who's there?" Carimo asked. "My girlfriend's on her way! She'll call the police!"

"I'm going to ignore that lie," a male voice with a slight Coruscanti accent said. "Tell me what I want to know and I won't let my droid start pulling your fingers off."

"Y-you have an in-interrog-gation d-droid?" Carimo asked. _Who are these people?_ "They're illegal!"

"He's a public relations droid," the voice admitted. "He handles many forms of negotiations."

"W-wh-what d-do you wa-want?"

"Your access card to Synergy," the voice continued. "Any sort of entry procedure we need to get in and not be noticed. Any remote access routines you need for working from home. And keys to your hovercar. In exchange, I'll give you ten thousand untraceable credit chips for your cooperation."

"I want fifty."

"I can half it every time you want to negotiate, or I can torture it out of you," the voice said. "Do you know what a Yuuzhan Vong slave seed can do to you?"

Carimo began to panic, panting from fear. He knew how much the Vong liked pain, and how little he himself did.

"My generosity is still on the table. What do you say?"

Carimo swallowed hard and sighed. "Okay. It's not like I have a choice."


	8. Chapter 7

Using the Force to disguise themselves, Sal, Tenel Ka, and Jacen walked up to the employee entrance door to Synergy Technology and Sal pulled the apprehended card from his pocket. He swiped it across the card reader mounted to the wall beside the door frame and waited for it to chirp and show a green light. He pulled the door open and held it while Tenel Ka and Jacen entered the building ahead of him, and he followed them through.

" _You should be in a long hallway that ends in a T_ ," Ami's voice came through clearly on their earpieces. " _Jacen, you go left, Sal, go right_."

Without any sort of acknowledgement, Jacen and Tenel Ka went left towards the offices while Sal set off toward the server room.

Jacen and Tenel Ka reached a door at the end of the hallway that opened up into a large area about the size of a dozen hoverball courts full of cubicles and sentients going about their business. Rather than stop to get a sense of where he was going, Jacen let the Force guide his feet. To his surprise, nobody seemed to pay them much attention – there were probably more people working there than most people knew.

"Have you identified Meatbag yet?" Jacen asked Ami, careful to use the Force to prevent his voice from travelling very far.

" _I still haven't found even a picture of him yet_ ," Ami replied. " _This guy's more elusive than Darth Titan. There's nothing on him from more than ten years ago."_

"Perhaps he is a Yuuzhan Vong," Tenel Ka suggested.

"I'm not picking up any," Jacen said after a moment as they neared one end of the giant room. With the option of going down a corridor to the right or making a left back into the room, Jacen reached into the Force for inspiration. "We're coming up on 1130. Let's see if we can find the marketing group."

Jacen took the right, and bumped into someone on the blind corner.

"Terribly sorry," Jacen muttered, grabbing the man by the shoulders to steady him. "Wasn't watching where I was going."

"Not a problem," the other man said with a grin. "I don't fire people for being clumsy. But maybe I should."

"Would you be Coren Sherdoy?" Tenel Ka asked.

"Yes, miss…? I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."

"You'll be coming with us," Tenel Ka said softly, showing off a small holdout blaster in the palm of her hand.

"Quite bold trying to kidnap me in my own facility," Sherdoy said with a chuckle. "If its credits you want, we can work something out."

"Credits won't pay for what you've done," Jacen said, grabbing Sherdoy by the arm and letting his disguise drop. "It's time to pay up for the damages you've done to the Republic and the Jedi."

"Jacen Solo," Coren Sherdoy laughed. He looked around and saw nobody paying them much attention, too busy with their work. He looked back at Jacen in the eye with sheer spite. "I didn't think you would be so bold. If you must know, I am merely paying back the damage the Jedi did to me."

"What do you mean?"

"Would you remember a Jedi Knight named Ganner Rhysode?" Sherdoy asked. "He was my little brother. And now the Jedi are paying for killing him."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After a five minute elevator ride straight down, Sal finally reached the underground facility and passed several locked doors until he found the server room. The keycard he had stolen opened the secure door without issue. It smoothly slid aside and he felt the cold air wash over him like a foreboding presence. He entered the chilly room and marvelled at the stacks and stacks of server compartments. He could sense that there were no sentients in the room, but there were droids bustling about, checking over parts of the servers to ensure continued functionality. One rolled past him without hesitation, leading him to believe that the droids were programmed to not recognize intruders.

" _Okay, Sal, I need you to find the primary firewall_ ," Ami's voice spoke in his ear. " _It's an Artero 94000, so it should be pretty distinctive_."

Looking around the room helplessly at the hundreds, if not thousands of stacks of equipment, Sal held his hands out helplessly.

"What the hell's an Artero 94000?"

" _A firewall…gah, this is why I shouldn't have let you go in without me_ ," Ami sighed. " _Look for a stack of red boxes with green buttons. They should be closer to a wall if they have any sense of how to design a server room._ "

Sal spent the next several minutes searching the room until he found a server tower with the described boxes. Quickly looking around, he found three more just like it.

"Found them. Now what?"

" _How many are there?_ "

"About thirty of them. Maybe more."

" _Is one designated as zero?_ "

Sal looked at the top one in the stack in front of him and saw a 0 on it, and each unit below fell into sequence starting with 1.

"Found it."

" _Great. They typically use a redundant firewall system, so if one goes down the rest will pick up the slack._ _If we start unplugging wires, they're going to notice, so you'll have to trip the power off using the main power cord, but don't do that until I tell you to._ _The 94000 reboots in about thirty seconds._ _If it takes more than forty seconds the system will automatically send a notice to a server technician, so you have less than ten seconds to replace the wires after unplugging it_."

"Understood," Sal said. "Which wires?"

" _There should be a port on it that says 'console,' and another one that says oh shavit!_ "

"Ami?" Sal asked. He strongtly suspected that there wasn't an "Oh Shavit" port on the device.

" _Jacen just got…you need to hurry._ " Ami's voice seemed to go up in tone and she began speaking faster. " _Take the device I gave you. The cable marked with red goes to the console plug, the other one goes to the one with the cable marked 'Primary Connection.'_ _Trip the power and replace those, quick._ "

Sal unplugged the server, swapped the connectors as described, and turned the power back on. In his head, he counted four seconds, but it felt longer.

"Done."

" _Great! Hide it, then listen for something making a lot of clicking noises and head toward it._ "

"There are a lot of things clicking," Sal said as he tucked the device into the casing and closed the door.

" _It's like a click-tap-click with a whirling thrown in_."

"You just described every droid on this planet," Sal growled.

" _You know I could've been there_ ," Ami said sarcastically. " _Come on, I need you to get to the storage drives._ "

"Why didn't you just say so?" Sal set off jogging back toward where he had seen the drives earlier. "I know what those look like."

" _Oh, so_ now _you've been replaced with a network technician?_ "

Sal heard the distinctive sound of the door opening and he dropped below the height of the server consoles, duck-walking the last few metres to the storage drives.

" _Someone's there_."

"I know," Sal hissed. "What do I do?"

" _Take the second device and plug it into the network interface on any of the drives. There should be some left empty_."

Sal gently eased open the door on the server rack and picked the first empty slot to slide her device into.

"Done."

" _Hide it then get out of there._ "

"What about Jacen?"

" _Too many droidekas and civillians_. _We need to regroup._ "

Sal set out toward the door and stopped when a red-skinned Twi'lek woman in a service technician uniform walked right up to him.

"Can I help you?" Sal asked, standing up and trying to look as if he belonged there.

" _Stop trying to ask her out! Hit her and run!_ " Ami screamed in his ear but her plea fell on deaf ears as Sal crumpled to the floor from a well-placed kick to his jaw.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"You think the Jedi killed Ganner?" Jacen asked, genuinely appalled by the description of the sacrifice that Ganner had made. "That is not what happened. If it wasn't for Ganner we'd still be fighting the Vong. He saved _all_ of us. I know. I was _there_."

Seven droidekas came at Jacen and Tenel Ka from all sides, startling the work environment and drawing everyone's attention to Coren and the two Jedi standing beside him. In a flash, lightsabers of green, violet and turquoise ignited, ready to face the oncoming onslaught of blaster fire, but Jacen and Tenel Ka were quite effectively surrounded.

"Spare me your lies, Solo," Coren said as he backed behind the perimeter of droidekas. "Drop your lightsabers and surrender."

Jacen eyed him and shifted his stance, ready to attack the droidekas. Seven droidekas was hardly a challenge. He reached out with the Force to connect with Eriana and…

Eriana wasn't there. Tenel Ka was. And she was _terrified_.

Jacen glanced over his shoulder to look at his wife and he could see panic in her eyes and tension in her stance. As much as he wanted to think she was over her kidnapping, he could sense she wasn't. Silently he swore to himself and deactivated his lightsabers. He was _not_ going to risk losing his wife.

"We surrender," Jacen said. "Power down, Tenel Ka."

She looked over her shoulder and their eyes locked. For a second she looked angry at him, but then she complied and she finally deactivated her lightsaber.

"Very good," Coren said. "Droids, lock them in my ship. We're going for a field trip."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The trip to Bastion was a mostly quiet journey. Luke spent most of his waking hours walking around the ship or doing various exercises to improve his control over his legs. When Leia wasn't cooking meals or preparing her equipment for the coming mission, she could be seen watching Luke with a scowl on her face until he noticed her, at which point she would disappear to 'check on the ship.' Chitter, Nelani and Jysella stayed together, reviewing what intelligence reports they had and designing a plan to break into the holding facility that Mara and Ben were in.

After the tense journey they finally came together in the cockpit to watch the ship drop out of hyperspace. While Luke adjusted the course of the ship to align with the local traffic patterns, Jysella used the falsified credentials that she had acquire from her mother to request clearance for landing at the planetary capital city.

"What do we do if this doesn't work?" Nelani whispered anxiously as they approached a Golan VIII platform that was acting as the customs clearance facility.

"It'll work," Jysella said. "Mom's been fooling customs officials for half a century. She knows what they're looking for."

Luke and Leia exchanged tense glances, but said nothing as the seconds seemed to tick slower each time the chronometer updated itself.

" _Shuttle Tosche, please continue to Sartinaynian City customs clearance point D-7 via route 34 West."_

"Acknowledged, Bastion Customs," Luke said, smiling at Jysella while adjusting the ship's heading and throttling up. "Customs point D-7 via 34 West."

" _Enjoy your stay on Bastion._ "

Two hours later and a few mind tricks to ease the minds of the customs officials into ignoring what equipment they were bringing through, the four human Jedi piled into a hovertaxi, leaving Chitter behind on the ship. They arrived at a hotel not long later and the droid at the service deck took credits to give the 'vacationing family of four' a south-facing room on the thirtieth floor, which happened to overlook the Imperial detention facility that Mara and Ben were being held in.

As they entered the room, Luke immediately dropped his bag on the second bed and walked up to the window with hand out towards the detention facility, closing his eyes and concentrating. Everyone else brought their bags of equipment in and began unpacking the equipment they would need for the upcoming infiltration.

"Ben's in juvenile detention," Luke said, pointing to the farthest corner of the facility. "He's unharmed and unhappy."

"What about Mara?" Leia asked.

"There," Luke pointed to one of the most heavily-fortified buildings of the compound and winced. "They're torturing her."

Nelani laid out the last of four hoverpacks that had been in her suitcase on the bed and began double checking the power up sequence. "These should be able to carry us that far, but we'll have to use the Force to control where we end up. The directional thruster flares will light up the sky."

"Don't worry, I brought my battery," Jysella said, holding up a small cylinder with straps on it that would allow her to absorb elecriticy safely and temporarily use telekinesis.

"There aren't any Bogan Warriors," Luke interrupted Nelani's reply, seemingly oblivious to the other conversation in the room.

"They must not realize that Mara and Ben are Jedi," Leia said.

"So they won't be expecting Jedi to come looking for them," Luke reasoned and finally turned around. He smiled grimly at his team. "All the better for us."

The two younger Jedi smiled back and returned to preparing their equipment, but Leia merely scowled at Luke.

 _I'm doing this,_ Luke sent to her empathically. _You can stay behind if you want._

 _Stay out of my head, Luke._

Leia turned and left the room without a word and Luke was left shaking his head.

"She'll come around." Luke said and turned his attention to unpacking his own equipment.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sal woke up with a start and reached for his lightsaber, but it was not in his jacket. He was also in a really cramped, somewhat noisy spot.

"Easy there little pirate," a woman's voice told him. "You're lucky I got you out of there before they could catch you."

Sal finally realized that he had been stuffed in the foot well of a hovercar between the front and back seats. Through the gap between the two seats he could see a Twi'lek woman, and he remembered the kick in the server room that had knocked him out.

"Who are you?" Sal asked, massaging his sore jaw.

"My name is Zara," the woman said. "I'm a friend of Jacen's."

"He never mentioned you."

"Considering I'm the ex-Bogan Assassin that was assigned to seduce him, I didn't think he would," Zara said as sarcastically as she could manage. "However, we have a mutal enemy. Sherdoy is the brother of a Jedi Knight who died in the Vong war. He's fighting a war on the Jedi with the Bogans. About three months ago I infiltrated Synergy and I've been trying to find a way to sabotage his efforts. Today I could sense Jacen was nearby and I decided to destroy the servers, but then I sensed you – I figured you guys probably had a plan to take Sherdoy out."

"And if we do?" Sal asked, still leery about trusting the woman.

"Here," she tossed something onto the back seat, which Sal immediately recognized as his lightsaber. "I took your ear piece and I'm homing in on the other one now. We should be there in a minute. We'll talk when we find your accomplice."

Sal pulled himself up into the seat and buckled the safety restraint, then took his lightsaber and examined it for any tampering, but there appeared to be none.

"Why should I trust you?"

Zara looked over her shoulder at him and rolled her eyes.

"You're the Jedi," she reminded him. "Use the Force, dumbass."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With his Jedi captives shackled, drugged and stowed under the passenger benches of his private shuttle, the chief executive of Synergy Technologies and his personal guards finally boarded. Two of the guards entered the cockpit and began the preflight, while the others sat on the benches to guard the Jedi. Coren retreated to his luxurious private quarters and accessed a secure communicator to report in to his partner. After a few moments, a masked figure appeared on the holodisplay.

"What is it, Rhysode?"

"Lord Titan, the Jedi Solo and Djo found me," Coren said. "I am on my way to your command ship with them in custody."

"Travel with all due haste," Darth Titan growled. "I want them alive."

"Yes, my lord."

Coren sat back and smiled. _Ganner, your revenge is at hand._

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ami, Zara, Sal and HK-47 sat in the _Solo Quest_ in complete silence. Ami stared at Zara with narrowed eyes, not quite sure of what to make of the woman that Jacen had told her very little bit about. She absentmindedly scratched the ears of the very agitated vornskr, who watched Zara's every move with profound distrust. HK-47 was silent only because Ami, the only present meatbag related to the master, had told him to stop trying to blast the impersonator. Sal was thinking about how trustworthy Zara could be, and Zara finally sighed with exasperation.

"We're all fighting for the same thing here," Zara said. "We need to take down Synergy and the Black Sun."

"Tell me again," Ami said. "One more time."

 _"_ You Jedi are a lot easier to kill than work with," Zara growled and shook her head. "Synergy isn't just pulling information out of handsets around the galaxy. They're coordinating all of the activity of their crime bosses _and_ the Bogan Empire across the galaxy using their secure servers. They have the perfect network, and it's run through two data centres on either end of the galaxy. We need to take them both out at the same time otherwise this will be for nothing. There's one here and one on Coruscant. And they have a tertiary site that does monthly backups, but it will only become active if one of the sites goes down. We need to find where that one is and destroy it, too."

"What if we put a virus in it?" Ami asked. "Thanks to Sal, I have a hard-line into the database I can access at any time."

"They actively scan the data link between the datacentres to filter for any threats," Zara said. "They know what they're doing. The datacentres have to be physically destroyed to disable the network."

"Destroying all three can't be done," Sal said. "Not with just four of us. Not with one ship."

"Then we need to split up," Zara said. "I'm sure there are other Jedi that can help. You two need to contact the Jedi Order and mobilize as many Jedi commandos as you can."

Ami and Sal exchanged glances and smiled grimly at each other.

"What?" Zara demanded.

"Well, we're not _actual_ Jedi," Sal admitted. "Jacen's the first real Jedi I've ever met since my grandfather died. I grew up outside the system."

"And I'm just an apprentice," Ami said. "They don't trust us with anything until we graduate. They didn't even put a lock on my hut."

Zara laughed bitterly and stood up. She got up and walked away from them, then came back, settling her elbows on the back of the chair she had been sitting on.

"What about you, droid? Did Jacen give you the encryption codes?"

"Queries: Why have we not blasted this meatbag yet?"

"HK, she's trying to help," Ami said, trying to pacify the agitated droid that somehow decided that she was the best temporary master until Jacen was recovered. "Do you have the codes for contacting the Jedi?"

"R-r-response: I only know that the Master keeps them in his quarters," HK-47 said. "He has never allowed me to witness where he keeps them. After a thorough search, I still have not found them."

"This is not good," Zara said. "How did _Jacen_ get captured and you kids are still out here running around?"

"Hey, I was trained by a Jedi Shadow that escaped Order 66," Sal said. "I am quite capable as a Jedi. I just haven't been in contact with the Jedi Order before now."

Zara rolled her eyes. "We'll have to make do with what we have. What _do_ you Jedi actually have?"

"Us two, who have been seen by Synergy security by now," Sal said. "Ami and HK-47, who haven't. This ship and everything in it, including Jacen's pet vornskr."

"We're not going to win this with a dog," Zara sneered, earning a growl from Astro. "What about Jacen's communication module for contacting the Black Vornskrs? We could call that leggy blond that he's always hanging around."

"Statement: The master's communication module has been modified to require a Black Vornskrs identification ring to activate it," HK-47 said. "Only the master has a ring with the necessary encryption to prevent unauthorized usage."

"No wonder he babied that stupid ring," Zara said. "We need a real Jedi that knows their codes. Do any of you know of any Jedi bases? Or how to contact other Jedi? Anything?"

"The only base I know of is Zonoma Sekot," Ami said. "They guard the location of it from everyone except the Masters. Jacen wiped the navicomputer after we left, so we can't back trace the route. I know there was a base on Corellia, but it was abandoned when the Bogans forced the Corellians into slavery."

"Disappointed remark: Even I have not been privy to the coordinates of Jedi bases," HK-47 said. "The Master knows I would slag many a meatbag before divulging his secrets, but he insisted on protecting the locations."

"Oh, wait!" Ami exclaimed. "We do have a Jedi Master! Well, sort of. At least, she was a Jedi Master, anyway."

"You can't be serious," Sal said. "Jaina's in no shape for this. She's been out of it for months."

"Jacen's sister," Zara said, recalling the name from her time with Jacen. "Is she on planet?"

"Sort of, yes," Ami said. "Jaina's in a healing trance recovering from a bit of an…addiction problem."

Zara narrowed her eyes, examining Ami's.

"Where is she?"

Ami reluctantly stood up and led the way to the small medical room at the back of the ship where Jaina remained sedated and strapped to the table where Jacen had left her. Everyone followed her, with Astro taking up the rear, still watching Zara closely.

"I don't know how to use any of this stuff," Ami said, gesturing to the IV drip bag and monitors.

"I do," Zara said, pushing past Ami to examine the displays. "Sometimes Lord Krayt wanted his prisoners alive."

"Lucky us," Ami said dryly, crossing her arms.

"What was she taking?"

"Deathsticks."

"Well, her cilona toxin levels are below the addiction threshold," Zara said, reading the monitor that Jacen had set up. "Most of it has been worked out of her system. But that doesn't mean she won't have a mental addiction to fight."

Zara reached up to deactivate the drip feed for the sedative, but Ami grabbed her wrist and Astro barked.

"I can't let you do this," Ami said. "Jacen said to keep her under until those levels hit zero otherwise she'll get hit with physical withdrawal symptoms. She needs to heal."

"So do you," Zara responded and bopped Ami square on the nose with the back of her fist.

Ami yelped and stepped back reflexively, covering her nose with her hands and giving Zara the chance to deactivate the sedative. Astro jumped over Ami onto the bed to protect Jaina and snapped at Zara's hand, but the Sith Acolyte backed away quickly with her hands up.

Sal and Ami both went for their lightsabers, but before they could activate them Zara had sat down on the chair beside Jaina.

"We aren't going to win this war by playing it safe, kids," Zara growled and crossed her arms. "We need her, and you know it."


	9. Chapter 8

Jaina's eyes flickered open as the waning sedative began releasing its hold on her consciousness. She slowly came into realization that she was in a medical suite on a Corellian freighter as she fought to stay awake. She lost the fight for consciousness a few time sbefore she finally held on and began to take in her surroundings and tried to move. It took her a moment to realize that her legs and arms weren't being stubborn, but that she was strapped to the table. She searched her memory but she still couldn't remember how she got there.

"Hello?" Jaina asked, but her voice sounded raspy and foreign.

"Welcome back," a voice came from beside her. She looked in that direction and saw a Twi'lek in coveralls standing up from a chair and moving down by her hip so it was easier to look at her. "How do you feel?"

"Who are you?" Jaina asked, still confused. "Why is a server technician…did I get turned into a droid?"

"Your brother and his wife were kidnapped by the Black Sun. We need your help."

"Who are you?" Jaina jolted against her restraints when she realized how tenuous the situation she was in was. Adrenaline shot through her and her senses suddenly became clearer, but she couldn't escape the bed. Part of her was wondering if she was tripping out again, but she was too lucid to be on a deathstick high. "Let me out of here!"

"Cool your thrusters," the Twi'lek snapped. "My name's Zara. I'm a friend of your brother's. The Black Sun is tied to everything – they're helping run the Bogan Empire. I'm trying to stop them."

A memory came back to Jaina, which related to her sore jaw. "The last time I saw my brother he punched me out. I'm not exactly on good terms with him right now. Why should I trust you?"

"Well, if the last couple minutes are anything to go by, you probably deserved it," Zara shrugged and stepped aside to let Ami approach. "But if you want someone to trust, you can talk to her."

"What?" Jaina asked, looking down her body at the red-headed woman that just entered the room. "Who the hell are you?"

"Um, hi," Ami waved awkwardly and smiled with a toothy grin as she played with her hands nervously as she approached her cousin. "We haven't actually met before."

"You Jedi really like half-assing everything, don't you?" Zara asked.

"Ignore her," Ami said to Jaina and took her hand, trying to calm her down a bit, but Jaina clenched her hand into a fist and tried to pull away. "We're cousins. I'm Ben's sister. Full sister. And I'm Jacen's apprentice. And we _really_ do need your help."

"Is she awake yet?" a blond haired man appeared behind Ami and looked at Jaina with brilliant blue eyes. "Good. We're almost done tapping into the planetary communication node."

"Let me guess, your twin brother?" Jaina started feeling overwhelmed by being surrounded by people she didn't know and felt panic starting to creep into her chest.

"Ew, no," Ami said, looking horrified at the prospect. "We just picked him up on Knolstee because he was following you around. He's a bit creepy."

"I'm standing right here, Ami."

Tears started streaming from Jaina's eyes she started trembling. Then she began laughing. After a few moments of laughing hysterically, Jaina finally fell back against the bed and continued giggling to herself.

"Okay, Jacen, this is hilarious," Jaina called out. "You can come out now. Great joke. You got me. This has to be your best prank."

Ami, Sal and Zara looked at each other and sighed in unison.

"This isn't a joke, Solo," Zara said and released the straps holding Jaina to the table. "Get your ass up. We need you to contact the Jedi."

"Contact the Jedi?" Jaina asked and slowly began to realize that this wasn't some sort of joke. She sat up and looked at Zara at eye level. "You _must_ be desperate. I haven't talked to them in months. And even if I knew how to, why should I trust any of you? I don't _know_ any of you."

"We're on your brother's ship and his vornskr and droid havn't killed us yet," Zara said. "That good enough for you?"

Jaina groaned and ran a hand through her frazzled hair. "I'll see what I can do."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina watched the diagnostic text as it appeared on the screen and it quickly turned into moving little squares of blurry light as her eyes unfocused. Since she had woken up she felt hollow. She knew distantly, abstractly, the things she had been doing were bad for her, but without them she didn't know what else to do with herself. She couldn't go back to being a Jedi…could she?

"Jaina?"

Jaina jumped out of her seat and nearly tripped over the arm rest as she stumbled toward the front of the cockpit away from the sound of a voice. She fell against the back of the pilot's seat and grabbed it to break her fall. She finally looked up to see her wide-eyed cousin lookind down at her.

"Ami!" Jaina said, trying to control her frantic breathing. The more she tried to control it, the faster and more uncontrolled her breaths became. She put a hand against her chest and could feel her heart racing as her ribs felt like they were trying to crush her organs.

Ami finally recovered from her surprise and launched herself forward to come to Jaina's rescue. She put an arm around her and turned the pilot's seat around to let her cousin sit down. She sent calming waves to Jaina and knelt in front of her, holding her hands and trying to maintain eye contact, but Jaina stubbornly avoided it.

"You were staring at the display, shaking," Ami said, putting a hand to Jaina's cheek to turn her head to look at her eyes. She could see fear in the slightly older woman's eyes, fear of not knowing how to cope with what her body was doing to her. "Your body is still trying to fight off the cravings for deathsticks."

"Maybe just a small…"

"No," Ami said. She pulled Jaina standing and wrapped her arms around her, supporting almost all of her weight with the hug. "I'm not letting you go back to drugs."

"I…I can't do it," Jaina said with a thick voice as her eyes began to well with tears. She hugged Ami back and began sobbing. "I-I'm n-not…strong..."

"You're just having a bad day." After a moment of reflecting on her words, she amended them. "Well, month. Months. Half year."

Jaina finally coughed out a laugh through the tears and rested her head against Ami's shoulder so she could look out the window and stare at the cargo crate doing absolutely nothing outside the ship. The warm embrace of the family member she never knew she had seemed to help ease some of the torture her body was putting her through. "I'm a wreck."

"Yep," Ami said and squeezed Jaina a bit tighter. "But you're family. And I've never really known what family is before Jacen and Ben. They've helped me a lot, so I'm going to help you."

Ami finally let go of Jaina and sat her down in the pilot seat again, taking the communication chair that Jaina had stumbled out of earlier. She looked at the display and took a quick assessment of it.

"You've already isolated the Jedi communications frequencies," Ami said.

"Yeah," Jaina replied, still wiping tears from her eyes. "That was easy. The frequencies and routines don't really change. The encryption protocols change weekly or monthly and obviously they haven't given me any for a while. They actively filter any non-encrypted messages because there are so many of them."

"This is a start," Ami said. "I can use the frequencies to send a Mon Calamari Blink Code message using static bursts. Anyone would be able to decipher it, but it might give us an opportunity."

"They're going to dismiss it as noise," Jaina said. "Lowie and I built the filtering subroutine they're using. We never thought anyone who didn't have codes would use it so we didn't add blink code recognition protocols."

"What about old codes?" Ami asked. "Does the system track messages if they're using out-dated encryption?"

"There is no system," Jaina blurted. "Just dead Jedi everywhere. Nobody's going to be listening. This isn't going to work. We should just give up. Let them run the galaxy. Is it really that bad? Nobody tried hunting me down in the last few months."

"That's because you were too stoned for them to think you were a Jedi," Ami said. "Meanwhile the rest of us have been fighting and dying for what we believe in. For what _you_ believed in when you actually gave a shavit about anything."

"I'm not up for this right now," Jaina mumbled and pulled herself out of the chair. When she opened the door out of the cockpit she to come face-to-face with Zara. "'scuse me."

"No," Zara said and grabbed Jaina's collar in a pinch grip that started choking her. Jaina kicked the other woman's shin, but she didn't even grunt in response. Zara tossed the smaller woman back into the pilot's chair with surprising ease and sat in the navigator seat across from Ami. "Any luck?"

"Not with Debbie downer here peeing on our parade," Ami said.

"Do you have a Black Vornskr ring?" Zara asked.

"A ring made out of a giant emerald?" Jaina scoffed, looking away from red-skinned woman. "Sold it long before I sold the _Falcon_."

"What about contacting that Wookiee through a personal holo message?" Zara asked. "He is your friend, and a high ranking Jedi, right?"

"Uh…yeah," Jaina said and looked at Ami. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"Because you've been fraked up on drugs for the last six months and she's so hung up on doing things the hard way that she can't do anything the easy way," Zara said, vacating her seat and walking back into the ship. "Do I have to think of _everything_ around here?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As night fell on Bastion the Jedi woke up from their Force-enduced rest. The team began showering, eating, dressing, and otherwise preparing themselves for the upcoming mission in near silence. A feud persisted between Luke and Leia as he quietly avoided her glares and she quietly glared at him. Jysella and Nelani, the first two to complete their preparations, began cutting out the window frame using their lightsabers. As they finished their cut, Leia used the Force to levitate the pane of glass safely into the room and laid it on the bed once the edges cooled. Nelani stuck her head out the window and looked both down and up, then towards the prison.

"All clear," Nelani declared and proceeded to double check her gear one last time to give herself something other than her pre-mission nervousness to think about.

"I'll lead," Luke said, finally clipping his lightsaber to the belt of his dark grey combat suit. "Jysella, follow me. Nelani and Leia, you go after Ben."

Luke reached up to his ear and pressed the button on a small transceiver that was tied into his belt comlink.

"Bluebird, are you interested in grabing some Bantha burgers?"

" _I'd love to go out, but I much prefer fruit,_ " Chitter's voice sang in response.

"Chitter is on standby," Luke told the others. "We're now under radio silence. Use blink codes going forward."

The team followed Luke to the far side of the hotel room where they turned to face the window. Luke concentrated on the Force and sprinted toward the window, jumping at the last second to clear the hole in the window. He soared through the air, enjoying the feeling of it rippling through his hair and beard for a few moments before activating his hoverpack. He looked back over his shoulder in time to see Leia leaving the hotel room behind the two younger Jedi.

They sailed along for several long moments as the prison facility grew larger and larger during their approach. Luke waved toward the building he had sensed Mara in and began applying the Force to change his trajectory. A moment later he sensed Jysella follow suit, and his sister and Nelani broke toward the juvenile detention area.

Luke drew on the Force to steady his legs and slow his descent as he approached the flat roof while turning up the setting on the hoverpack. He landed softly and Jysella landed a few metres away from him with only the slightest crunching of the stones on the roof under her boots. They removed their hoverpacks and hid them behind an air filtration unit before looking around for some way to access the inside of the building. Jysella's eye caught a glint of silver several metres away in the moonlight and she tapped Luke's arm to get his attention. He followed her over to the object of her attention and identified it as a hatch with no apparent locking mechanism.

Two long pops came through Luke's earpiece and Jysella caught his eye. He nodded in confirmation – Leia and Nelani had gained entry. Luke knelt down beside the hatch and held a hand toward it. He moved it around the perimeter until he found the locking mechanism, a simple slide bolt that was holding it closed. He could not sense any electrical signals or other security features that might trigger an alarm.

 _Hardly high security here,_ Luke thought to himself as he used the Force to slide the bolt into the unlocked position. He lifted the latch and Jysella took it from him to open it the rest of the way. Luke looked down into the dark room below and found a flight of stairs leading up to the hatch. Together, Luke and Jysella removed their low-light goggles from their belts and descended the stairs.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To Jaina's surprise, Lowie responded within half an hour with an excited reply to her message. Per Ami's suggestion, to be as inconspicuous as she could, she wrote to him as if she was a friend talking about having the time of her life on a vacation visiting the Korshin Caverns on Drog II. She mentioned that she was going to visit the Orgono Falls the next day and that she wished he could be there to see them, since she knew how much he loved waterfalls. His response read that he was looking forward to seeing holo images as soon as possible and that he would make the trip out there someday soon.

Naturally, the _Solo Quest_ made way for Drog II, and the next day Jaina met Lowie at the Orgono Falls.

You're lucky I was in the area, Lowie barked as he pulled Jaina into a tight Wookiee hug. _Where_ have you been? We've been worried about you.

"Nowhere this nice," Jaina said, gesturing to the beautiful waterfall behind him. She tried to keep the pained expression off her face, but hardly succeeded. She glanced back at Ami, who was admiring the falls while keeping an eye on her. Her cousin had become her new shadow since she had woken up and, between her bubbly personality and constant presence, was starting to get a bit annoying. However, _everything_ seemed to annoy Jaina as she struggled with the withdrawal.

Lowie took a quick glance at the crowd of people around them gawking at the enormous waterfall and snapping holos before turning back to Jaina.

I presume there's something important you wanted to talk to me about.

Jaina caught Ami's eye and nodded. She turned and started walking away from the falls, gesturing for Lowie to follow. She could sense Ami following several metres away.

"Not here," Jaina said. "Are you docked at D4?"

D2, Lowie said. But they're connected by a tram.

"It'll be safer on our ship," Jaina said. "I assume you know Ami?"

I know she's your _brother's_ apprentice, Lowie replied. Where is Jacen?

Jaina stopped and looked up at Lowie. "Lowie, is she really Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara's daughter? Please, tell me the truth. Can we trust her?"

Lowie's eyes narrowed and he slowly nodded. She is their child, and Jacen has become very close to her. That's enough for me to trust her.

Jaina looked back at Ami, who had stopped to buy some candy from a streetside vendor, and nodded. "Let's talk about Jacen when we get to the ship."

The two old friends walked in silence until they reached the bus stop. Ami arrived a few moments later, enjoying her candy a few paces away from the other two Jedi while they waited for the bus arrive amid a growing crowd of tourists. When the bus finally arrived Jaina and Lowie took seats near the back with the quieter passengers while Ami sat closer to the front with the more rambunctious tourists blabbing about seeing the falls.

During their trip back to the spaceport where the _Solo_ _Quest_ was docked, Jaina told Lowie a made up story of travelling around the galaxy, and he pretended to believe her, asking questions that she enthusiastically responded to with believable answers. He almost would have believed her act if he had not known that Jacen's recent agitated disposition was somehow connected to her. Very few beings in the galaxy had grown up close enough to the Solo twins to know when the emotions of one was affecting the other, and Lowie was one of those few. Given her troubled emotions, Lowie decided that it was best to let her keep her fantasy intact for now.

Two buses later they arrived at dock D4, one of the eight medium-sized spaceports that were connected around the city of Orgono with a giant ring of elevated tram rails. The three Jedi departed the bus and Ami led the way past the small collection of shops and restaurants to where the _Solo Quest_ was docked, letting Jaina and Lowie continue their conversation at a few paces back. As she chatted on, Jaina reflected that one of her favourite things about the setup of Orgono's spaceports was that odd numbered ports were for commercial purposes, while even numbered ports were for private ship owners, eliminating the need for them to go through security to get to their own ship.

They finally arrived to find Sal and HK-47 doing some general maintenance on the lower gun turret. Upon seeing the arrivals, they both quickly finished what they were doing and followed Jaina, Ami and Lowbacca onto the ship into the passenger common area.

What the frak is going on? Lowie barked when he saw Zara sitting on the couch. His lightsaber hilt was in his hand in a flash, but he did not turn it on.

"I'm not…"

You're the assassin, Lowie growled. Jacen told me about you. Where are Jacen and Tenel Ka? The last I heard they were trying to infiltrate Black Sun.

"Apparently they got captured," Jaina said, settling onto the couch beside Zara. "We don't know where they're going, but HK-47 was able to pull some security cam footage of them being loaded onto a ship, apparently drugged."

"Jacen sent me a message through the Force when he was captured," Ami said. "He told us to finish the mission, not go after him."

What mission?

"Crippling Black Sun," Zara said. "Our mutual problem, and the only reason I'm here with you insufferable Jedi. There are three Black Sun data centres. They form the backbones of the Bogan Empire and the Black Sun intelligence. If we can take the centres out..."

Coruscant, Etti IV, and Shumogi, Lowie said, to everyone's surprise as he casually returned his lightsaber to his belt. Ghent was able to confirm the location of all three of them two days ago during the last synchronization of the Shumogi backup.

"What's the plan?" Sal asked. "Are the Black Vornskrs sending fleets to attack them?"

Can we trust these two? Lowie asked Jaina, indicating Sal and Zara.

"Jacen trusted Sal," Jaina said without much conviction. "At least Ami said so. I have no idea what to make of Zara, but HK hasn't tried to kill them yet, so that probably means something."

Lowie grunted and crossed his long shaggy arms. Master Katarn has a team going for Shumogi.

"Oh, I'm so glad I didn't get put on the mission with stuffy old man," Ami said with copius relief. After seeing the glare from Lowie, Ami's eyes went wide. "I mean, that target's not going to last very long!"

Lowie rolled his eyes and continued. Master Horn and Wraith Squadron are attacking the site on Coruscant.

"Consider that one gone," Jaina muttered. "I hope they send pictures of their stuffed ewok with the destroyed servers."

Both missions are very high risk and have several contingency factors in play as well, Lowie said.

This mission, however, is the most sensitive one given the prominence of Synergy Technology and the target being their headquarters. They picked me specifically to infiltrate this data centre…

"Just you?" Zara asked. "Sorry, but a Wookiee isn't exactly discrete in these parts."

They picked me specifically, Lowie barked with an irritated tone. To complete this mission with Jacen after sending Tenel Ka and Ami to safety. They thought a smaller team of specifically-skilled Jedi Masters would be less disruptive than a larger team.

A moment of silence passed over the group as they all started mulling over the logic of the Jedi Order. They were all thinking the same thing – an assassin, a Jedi Apprentice, and a recovering drug addict together were a far cry from Jedi Master Jacen Solo, even with an assassin droid thrown into the mix. Sal was the most functional of the group, but Lowbacca had little knowledge to factor him into his situation assessment.

Each team has the mission to extract what incriminating data we could find to expose Black Sun and the Bogan Empire to damage their credibility, then destroy the databases. I was to do the slicing, and Jacen was to get us in and destroy the database. The only reason they accepted the mission was that I had convinced them that we were the right two for the job.

"Well, you don't have to worry about the slicing anymore," Ami said with a smile, happy to prove her worth to a Jedi Master. "I've got direct access to the databank at any time. We've already started pulling all sorts of data with no indication that they've caught on. I quadrupled HK-47's datacore and he's currently working on the download. We should have a sizeable portion of it by now."

How did you manage that?

"We set up our own private back door to access it," Sal said. "That's what my mission was while Jacen and Tenel Ka were to capture Sherdoy."

Lowie crossed his arms pensively and nodded.

We still need to physically destroy the databank. Our best projections indicated that no virus could act fast enough to take out the entire network.

"Well, we don't have Jacen," Sal finally said, looking up at Lowie with his bright blue eyes. "But my name is Sal Carver. I'm what was once called a Jedi Shadow. I've been trained in infiltration and espionage, and I'm not bad in a fight. If you want someone to get into that building and plant some explosives, I'm your guy. I've already been in there once."

"Karrde, Shadda and Ghent didn't teach me nothing," Ami said. "And I've learned a lot from Jacen. I might not be as good at breaking into places as my mom, but I've been doing this a long time. And they haven't seen me yet, so that's a plus."

"Black Sun is bound to have noticed that I'm missing and will be hunting for me," Zara said. "Maybe we can use that as a distraction?"

Everyone turned to look at Jaina, and with everyone's eyes on her she felt panic welling up in her chest. She immediately jumped off the couch and ran out of the room, escaping to the cockpit at a sprint. She locked the hatch and slouched back against it, sliding down it until her elbows were on her knees and her palms were pressed against the sides of her head. She could feel her palms getting sweaty and her heart hammering in her chest as her breathing went out of control.

 _A mission…covering for Jacen…I'm not ready for this…I can't do this…why me?...I'm going to mess everything up again…everyone's going to die…_

The door opened and Jaina fell onto her back, looking up at the furry body of Lowbacca, who was looking down at her.

Where were you really? Lowie growled.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina's conversation with Lowie took a couple hours as she tearfully explained what had happened since she broke out of military custody and escaped with the _Falcon_ , explaining the causes of her depression and her growing reliance on drugs, sex and alcohol to cope. At first it was hard for her to admit how much of a wreck she had become, but as she spoke to him and he let her drone on without judgement, it became easier and she found comfort talking to her old friend. She spent most of the time sitting on his lap with her head on his furry shoulder and his big Wookiee arms wrapped around her, keeping her safe from the entire galaxy of despair that had followed her around for months. Eventually she got to the part about waking up on the _Solo Quest_ , not even remembering how she got there, strapped to a bed and surrounded by people she had never met.

"This is the first bit of sanity I've had in months," Jaina admitted, squeezing Lowie a bit tighter. "I don't even know who I am anymore. I haven't used the Force since I ran away. I hid my lightsaber on the _Falcon_ and didn't even go back for it when I sold it."

A lightsaber is just a thing, Lowie said. You can build a new one. We can't build a new one of you.

"Nobody wants me anymore." Jaina sniffed. "I-I'm broken."

 _I_ need you, Lowie cooed. I can't do this with just them. You have more combat experience than all of them combined.

"I'll just mess up again. I'll get everyone killed."

If they're all Black Sun, I'm cool with that.

Jaina laughed softly and closed her eyes. _It feels good to laugh again._

She finally found the strength to sit up and look him in the eye. To her surprise, he didn't look ashamed of her at all. His eyes looked back at her with understanding and respect that she didn't feel like she deserved.

"I don't trust myself," Jaina said seriously. "You shouldn't either. I'll help but if something could go wrong, you need someone else to do it."

Can you fly the ship?

Jaina took a moment to consider. She had been flying for more of her life than she hadn't. At one time she was listed among the best pilots fighting in the Yuuzhan Vong war, and had learned from legendary pilots Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Wedge Antilles. Her nerves were getting better, and her body was getting over the addiction thanks to Jacen's healing trance, but if she was going to start on the road of recovery with something, it may as well be something she was once good at.

"I can fly the ship," Jaina said with more confidence than she thought she might have.

Then you get to fly the ship, Lowie barked with a toothy grin.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The _Solo Quest_ and Lowie's skiff arrived at Etti IV an hour apart from each other, as according to the plan. Zara and Sal split up to travel with Lowie, while Jaina, Ami, and HK-47 went ahead to scout out the situation at Synergy Technologies. By Zara's suggestion to avoid recognition Jaina and Ami both dyed their hair blonde. To their surprise they almost looked like sisters once their hair was the same colour.

"How did you not see it before?" Zara had asked in the snarky tone that she reserved for any time someone annoyed her.

To keep up appearances, despite the fact that it was highly unlikely that anyone would be watching them, Ami and Jaina split up at the spaceport leaving five minutes apart from each other. Ami went north a couple blocks then east towards their target, while Jaina and HK-47 went south three blocks before heading east. HK-47 followed Jaina on strict secret instructions from Ami to make sure she did not eat, drink or do anything except follow the pre-determined path until they reunited.

When they finally arrived at the restaurant, they hugged and greeted each other like they were sisters who hadn't seen each other in a week. Upon entering the restaurant they found that they were the first customers of the day and were able to get their choice of a table, however, HK-47 was required to stay on the ground floor in a droid parking area.

Despite being sectioned off to a small corner of a major shopping centre, the restaurant enjoyed two storeys of seating space and was decorated with elegance matched only by the crisp suits worn by the staff. Expensive wood paneling covered the bottom quarters of two of the unusually high walls, and mirrors from the wood paneling to the ceiling made the dining area seem far more expansive than it was. Giant crystal chandeliers sparkled above the brilliant daylight that shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked both the beautiful gardens in front of Synergy Technology's office and, more important to the two Jedi, the main employee entrance. The maître let them choose the table closest to the window and, after seating them, gave them menus and returned to the ground floor.

"It looks like they've increased security quite a bit," Ami reflected after the maître had retreated. "Those guards with blasters weren't patrolling like that before. And that giant tent that everyone is going through wasn't there before. I can sense a lot of people in there. Lots of tension."

"They're probably inspecting everyone going through there to make sure they're legit," Jaina replied, not looking up from her menu. After months of eating nothing nearly gourmet or healthy enough to make it onto the flimsy card in front of her, reading the names of some of these foods reminded her of days of her youth visiting some of the most exclusive and expensive restaurants on Coruscant with her parents and brothers. Now her brother and dad were dead, and her twin was captured…

"This won't work." Ami's frustrated tone interrupted Jaina's thoughts. "Lowie will never get the bomb in there."

"What do they…" Jaina stopped speaking as a human waiter in his mid-fifties approached. He reached for Jaina's goblet with his white-gloved hand and promptly filled it with water, then repeated with Ami's goblet.

"Good day, young ladies. My name is Arthur. May I interest you in something else to drink?"

"A small glass of Viognier," Ami requested, naming an expensive sweet white wine that she had only tried once before on a mission while seducing someone for information. That night she wasn't paying for her meal, much like this meal, so she felt like she could splurge. "From Onderon's southern region, if you have it."

The waiter nodded and turned to Jaina. She was about to order a glass of brandy when an empathic shove from Ami caught her attention. She looked up at her cousin and saw a penetrating glare that went unnoticed by the waiter.

"I-I'll, umm, tea," Jaina finally muttered. "Just a green tea please."

Arthur nodded sharply and marched toward a door at the back of the room. A group of four people entered, led by the maître and chose a table along the wall opposite the room from Jaina and Ami.

"So who's paying for this?" Jaina asked. "This place isn't cheap."

"Your brother," Ami said indifferently. "Swiped some credits from the stash in his cabin. He really shouldn't leave cash lying around."

"He can afford it," Jaina said. "Tenel Ka once told me she had a trillion credits stashed away in investments outside of Hapes. Makes me wonder how much her family was worth before Hapes was wiped out."

"They've put a lot into the war effort," Ami said. "But if I know Tenel Ka there are definitely a few credits being held in reserve."

Arthur returned with their drinks and took their food order – Ami picked a light fish dish while Jaina settled on the most expensive cut of nerf steak – before disappearing once again. Jaina looked out at the Synergy building again, noting flowers and shrubbery that bordered a concrete path that seemed to go around the building past her line of sight in either direction. Every ten metres or so was a circular area surrounded by benches, which seemed otherwise unimportant. But at the same time, offered an excellent disguise for a defensive line.

"What do they have in AA defenses?"

"Anti-aircraft?" Ami asked. "You can't be serious. The server room is six kilometres underground. You'd have to blast the roof off the building, pull out the lift car, fire a proton torpedo down a four metre square shaft straight on without hitting the sides or any potential countermeasures, and pray that it explodes with enough force to take out the server room, which is at the far end of a twisted hallway carved out of bedrock and behind a blast door. There's no way an aerial attack would work."

"Fine, I'll shut up," Jaina said miserably and sipped her tea.

"But…as a distraction…"

Jaina looked at her cousin and saw a pensive look on her face that reminded her of her aunt when she was making plans to hurt someone. Ami looked back over at the gardens, her eyes flicking to the same concrete path that Jaina noticed earlier.

"I have an idea," Ami said with a smile as Arthur arrived with their fish and nerf.


	10. Chapter 9

Zara and Sal initiated the first phase of their mission by stealing uniforms from the maintenance company for Synergy's heating and cooling system. The rather uneventful sub-mission involved a couple of mind tricks convincing the weak-minded receptionist to put down his LinkCom long enough to give them some uniforms and satchels from a back room, as well as the access code to one of the company hovervans. After robbing his own employer, the receptionist promptly went back to playing with his LinkCom, oblivious to what he had done.

Zara and Sal returned to the ship to find Lowie finishing up his cannibalization of four proton torpedoes. Working very carefully, the Wookiee had extracted the baradium explosive core and detonator from the outer casing of the torpedoes. With a grin on his face, he jury-rigged combination remote/timer triggers made out of modified LinkCom units into the detonators, thoroughly enjoying the irony of his idea to use Synergy's own device against them. He put a new casing over the torpedoes, specially designed by him to include a thin layer of lead to fool any inspection devices. While Lowie and Sal loaded the bombs and tools into the satchels emblazed with the Othrin's H&A company logo, a very different Zara appeared in her new coveralls.

"What can I say?" Sal said. "You look good in blue."

"This paint is nasty," Zara sneered, referring to the body paint that was covering her distinctive red skin and black tattoos. "I feels like I got licked by a Hutt."

That sounds like a comparison gained through experience, Lowie chuffed, earning himself a glare from the Twi'lek.

"What are you doing with our lightsabers?" Zara asked, holding hers out.

"Glue some of those parts over there onto it and stuff it in the tool bag," Sal said, pointing at the work bench behind him. "Make it look like a hydrospanner."

Lowie checked his chronometer and took a deep breath. Katarn and Horn's teams would be commencing their attack in exactly one hour and ten minutes.

Let's load up the truck and get ready to fix a furnace, Lowie growled.

Ten minutes later Othrin H&A's new fake employees departed Lowie's skiff looking every bit the professional Heating and Air repair people, from the coveralls and satchels right down to the brimmed hat on Lowie's oversized head and the stolen hover van.

Sal drove the hover van across the city to the main guest parking lot of Synergy Technologies and was waved through by the guard without being stopped. He parked the hover van into one of the designated spots and the three of them disembarked. Lowie grabbed the two bags and they began walking toward the main entrance of the building. When they reached the giant white tent a chirping noise from Lowie's belt caught his attention. He passed Sal and Zara each a bag, signalling them to go ahead, and dug the chirping communicator from his belt.

Yes?

" _Lowie, its Ami,"_ her voice came from the device. " _The plan changed a bit."_

What changed?

The sound of a ship breaking the sound barrier overhead snapped the Wookiee's head up, and he recognized the _Solo Quest_ as it spun around for what looked like an attack run.

" _We're going to distract them so you can get through security_ ," Ami said with a rather guilty tone in her voice. " _You get in there and set the bombs."_

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After entering the prison interrogation centre, Luke and Jysella had been lucky. They ran into a patrol of two guards, male and female, who happened to be about the same build and height as the two Jedi. After quickly subduing, stripping, and hiding them in a closet, they put the guard uniforms on and took up a patrol of their own. Even though Leia had indicated success on extracting Ben fairly quickly, it took almost a half hour of wandring through the hallways until Luke was able to pick up Mara's presence.

"She seems groggy," Luke told Jysella. "I think she was in a healing trance."

"Can you let her know we're here?"

"I just did," Luke admitted with a wince. "She's much more alert now."

"Good, hopefully she can figure a way out of her cell."

"She'll have to stop swearing at me to do so," Luke said with a grimace.

"Sorry," Jysella said. "Which direction?"

"Remember that high security area we passed about ten minutes ago?"

"The one with the angry looking guards?"

"That's the one," Luke said. "Ok, Mara's _finally_ passing on intel. Uh, don't tell her I said that. She's due to be drugged again by her interrogators with her morning meal. It's in the food. She thinks we have about ten minutes before they come around to harass her."

"How many guards in that section?"

Luke pushed the question to Mara and waited a moment for her response.

"Dozens," Luke said. "It's high security. The guards are in full riot gear."

They walked along for several moments and Luke could hear Jysella whisper a couple times "What would dad do?"

"Let's start opening jail cells," Jysella finally said. "They'll have to divert resources to this area and hopefully pull away people from where Master Mara is."

They both jolted when an alarm blared through a loudspeaker right above them announcing a prisoner escape in juvenile detention. Luke sent an inquiry to his sister and received a yellow-blue impression from her – they were almost back at the ship. The sound of heavy boots coming down the hallway towards them forced the two Jedi to step aside and watch as several dozen heavily armed troopers ran past.

"That seems to have done it," Luke said. "Mara's reporting very few guards near her."

Jysella grinned and shrugged. "As my grandfather always says, never turn down a golden opportunity."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The first laser salvo from the attacking Corellian ship sent people running for cover, which included the security guards. Without much else to do, Lowie and his team followed the security guards into the building to seek cover. One of the guards held the door open as the Wookiee approached, and he barked his thanks to the guard.

"No problem," the guard said. "Some people are just frakin' crazy. This will be over soon. We have perimeter defenses."

Zara and Lowie exchanged grim glances, and then turned to look around. Everyone who had been in the tent seemed crammed into the hallway, so Lowie, Zara and Sal shuffled their way further into the hall to the outskirts of the small but terrified mob. Some people were sobbing with fear, others just looking at each other wondering if they were looking at the last people they would ever see. When an explosion went off outside, some people jumped or yelped. It was the perfect cover for Zara and Sal to slip off towards the elevator to the server room without being noticed. Lowie, however, being the only Wookiee in the room, would have a harder time disappearing. He gestured for them to go and used the Force to keep everyone's attention elsewhere, which wasn't difficult. Once he was sure they were in the clear, Lowie raised a shaggy paw and barked out a request.

"Anyone speak Wookiee?" one of the guards asked.

"I don't think anyone except Wookiees do," someone deadpanned.

"Does anyone _understand_ Wookiee?"

Lowie plucked his translation droid from his belt and held it over his head.

"Oh, my," the little droid said. "My master would like to know if there is a refresher he could use. All this excitement is..."

And explosion cut off the little droid, sending another wave of fear and cries through the crowd.

A guard cut his way through the crowed and gestured for Lowie to follow him. When they reached the refresher, Lowie grabbed the man's head and slammed it against the door to knock him out. He unceremoniously lifted the guard by the wrist and tossed him into the room, then made his way toward the elevator where Sal had just finished hot-wiring it.

"They locked everything down, but I was able to get past the security protocol," Sal said. "Get in."

They piled into the elevator and Lowie sent a signal to Jaina through the Force to let her know that they got in. They waited in silence for the excruciatingly long journey to the bottom of the elevator shaft. When the car began to slow, Lowie and Sal drew their lightsabers in anticipation of a fight. The doors opened, revealing an empty hallway.

"This way," Zara said, picking up one of the bags and pushing her way into the hall. Sal followed her on the familiar path to the server room, and Lowie took up the rear. He took a moment to check his communicator for messages and found two – Katarn and Wraith squadron were both reporting success on their missions. Taking down Black Sun's communication network was now solely up to them.

"Our card has been deactivated," Sal said after two attempts to open the security door with his stolen keycard. He pulled out his lightsaber and ignited the blade. "Good thing I brought a spare key."

Lowie helped him carve open the door and was rewarded with a view of dozens upon dozens of computer server terminals, all waiting to be destroyed. Zara pushed past Lowie with one of the bombs, and Sal picked up the other to follow her. A clicking noise behind them and a flicker of intuition made Lowie spin around and swing his lightsaber at Sal's head as the human ducked, allowing Lowie to deflect a pair of blaster bolts back at a droideka. Three more droidekas deployed facing them and began firing a steady stream of blaster bolts at them.

Go! Lowie barked at Sal and let the Force guide his lightsaber to protect his allies.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Their shield is coming up," Jaina said, sending the _Solo Quest_ into an easy spin to avoid a stream of blaster bolts from a pair of defense turrets that had locked onto their heat signature. "At least the turrets are automatic."

"I'll send the detonation signal," Ami said, referring to the explosive package they had dropped on the roof on their first pass. Guided by the Force, the package landed neatly under the shield emitter right in the middle of the Synergy facility's roof. With the flick of a finger the package exploded, sending up a cloud of fire that vaporized the disk and dropped the shield.

"That should give Lowie enough of a distraction," Ami said and unbuckled her crash webbing. "I'll get to the turret."

The ship rocked from being hit by a stream of blaster bolts and Jaina's quick reaction threw Ami against the communication panel and dropped her back against the chair.

"Sorry," Jaina said through gritted teeth. "I've got this."

Ami threw herself out of the chair towards the back of the ship, bouncing off walls as she stumbled her way to the ladder that led to the turrets. With HK-47 in the dorsal turret, Ami took the ventral one, strapping herself in and putting the headset on.

" _Looks like they have some fighters launching_ ," Jaina said. With her cousin's voice right in her ear, Ami could hear the stress Jaina was under.

"You're doing great, Jaina," Ami encouraged her as the targeting systems came online. Something hit the ship and sent it into a spin, causing Ami to grit her teeth. _Please don't kill us, Jaina!_

" _HK, focus on the turrets,"_ Jaina ordered. " _Ami, see what you can do about the fighters."_

Without thinking, Ami spun the turret around and fired on instinct, blowing off the tip one of the fighters' wings. She got a good look at the wing and recognized its unusual configuration from a brand new atmospheric defense version of X-wing that had recently been launched by Incom.

"Jaina, fly straight up! These fighters won't fly above forty kilometres."

" _But we'll lose our distraction,_ " Jaina argued.

"If Lowie isn't in by now, he probably won't be anytime soon," Ami said. "We're going to get chewed up if we stay down here, and those are atmospheric fighters. We need to get to thinner atmosphere."

The ship spun and Ami felt a jolt of acceleration as Jaina opened the throttle all the way. She reoriented her turret to aft and saw HK already trying to pick off the pursuing fighters. After three had exploded, the targeting system told her no targets were within range.

" _I'm going to circle back_ ," Jaina said. " _We'll blast right through their formation and take out some turrets on a strafing run to keep up the pressure._ "

"Go for it," Ami said and turned her turret back towards the front of the ship. A few moments later she was still waiting for the ship to turn around. "Jaina?"

The sky became darker as the ship continued to climb higher. "Jaina, are you there?"

" _Yeah, yeah,_ " Jaina replied and the ship spun around quickly, over navigating and hastily correcting herself. " _Sorry._ "

"Stay focused, Jaina," Ami said. "You're doing great."

"Query: Has the temporary Master's mushy brain been damaged?"

"Shut up and shoot!" Ami ordered. "Targets in range!"

Their targets quickly came up as they raced towards the planet surface and between her and HK they took out four more, reducing the fighter count to four, but not without taking damage themselves.

"Frak!" Ami shouted as a blaster bolt speared her turret, exploding a console behind her seat. She felt something imbed itself into the seat from the force of the explosion and privately thanked the Force that nothing had gone through her head. "I've lost my turret. Power conduit hit."

" _Are you okay?_ " Jaina asked, and the ship shook.

"I'm fine, you focus on flying this thing!" Ami shouted back over the wind whistling through the damaged canopy. She pulled the crash harness off and grabbed her lightsaber from her belt. "I've got an idea. No matter what, keep flying, Jaina."

She tossed the microphone aside and got a firm grip on the chair with one hand. Taking a deep breath, she activated her lightsaber and carved away the entire damaged canopy. The wind hit her with full force, pulling her out of the ship.

"Why the frak did I think this was a good idea?" Ami screamed as she tumbled towards the attacking fighters. Using the Force she sped up her descent toward the planet and pushed herself in place to where the Force told her she needed to be. At the last second she gave herself another hard push to get her speed as close to the fighter's as possible, reached out, and hugged the laser turret of one of the X-wings, barely holding on. To her amazement, her lightsaber was still on and in her hand. And she hadn't cut her head off. She deactivated it and secured it to her belt.

Ami looked over at the pilot who seemed oblivious to the fact that he picked up another passenger, and hoisted herself up to straddle the wing. She slowly inched her way along the wing, using the Force and sheer desperation to stay on the wing. The ship began to level out, following the _Solo Quest_ as it twisted out of its strafing run, and Ami used the opportunity to flip over the engine cowel and make hand and foot holds out of some of the exposed components behind the canopy. After looking around the components for a moment, she found what she was looking for – the emergency cockpit canopy release. While holding on with both hands, she triggered the release handle with the Force. The canopy twisted off and caught her right arm, slicing it to the bone across her forearm and forcing her to lose her grip and scream.

 _It's just the top of the arm,_ Ami said to herself as blood quickly began staining her shirt arm. Her fingers still moved, albeit painfully. _Nothing_ too _critical there._

Finally noticing his hitchhiker, the pilot sent the ship into a spin, forcing Ami to ignore the pain in her hand and re-establish her grip. Then, the pilot did something she did not expect – he killed the throttle and activated the repulsorlift, letting the ship hover in place.

The pilot popped up a second later with a hold-out blaster and took a shot at Ami, but she rolled out of the way and came up to one knee on the port upper wing, lightsaber in hand and activated.

"I don't know how you got here," the pilot asked. "But I'm pretty sure you're not a Jedi."

"Do you think _anyone_ but a Jedi could do what I just did?" Ami demanded. "For frak's sake, _I_ can't even believe I just did!"

A blaster bolt, neatly deflected back into the man's shoulder, was Ami's only answer. As the pilot tumbled out of the ship, Ami pulled his helmet off with the Force and quickly put it on her head. She jumped into the pilot's seat and strapped in. She throttled the ship up and tried to ignore the wind whipping around her and the searing pain in her arm as she angled her new fighter toward the ships pursuing the _Solo Quest_.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Zara and Sal each set one of Lowie's modified bombs several meters apart between the server stacks while Lowie kept his large frame just inside the ruined door, deflecting blaster bolts away from his allies and the bombs. They began the arming sequence and timer indicated the default setting of five minutes.

"Are we even going to last five minutes?" Sal asked.

Zara popped her head over one of the server units to look at Lowbacca as he dodged a blaster bolt, which barely skimmed over the server beside her to slam into the wall. Another glance around the room gave her an idea.

"Lowie, when I tell you to, retreat behind the servers," Zara said. "Sal, get ready to smash up the droidekas when they come in here. You'll have to work together."

"Blaster bolts will cut right through those servers," Sal said. "We won't last ten seconds against them."

"The droids are programmed not to hit them," Zara countered. "They're here to protect the server stacks, not destroy them."

Are you sure? Lowie barked.

"They haven't landed a single blaster bolt anywhere but on the walls," Zara said, pointing to a section of the wall littered with scorch marks. "Either you trust me on this or we blow the servers right now with us in the room. If we can smash the droids up with the Force, we might have a chance at getting out of here alive."

After several seconds of nothing but the sound of blaster bolts being deflected and server fans humming away, Lowie finally barked. In three!

On a silent count of three, Lowie side stepped to hide behind the door, then sprinted down the width of the room before turning hard to hide behind the servers. He crawled up to where Sal was huddled beside one of the bombs and they both waited with their lightsabers in hand, thumbs hovering over the activation switch, expecting a signal from the Force to deflect a blaster bolt.

But the signal didn't come.

They're staying outside, Lowie barked.

"And they've stopped firing," Sal popped his head up above the server stack to check, and quickly dropped as a blaster bolt narrowly missed his head. "But they're watching."

They nodded to each other and closed their eyes, reaching out with the Force towards the four droidekas waiting patiently for them outside. While Lowie used the Force to cross circuits connected to the power pack on his first victim droid, Sal ripped the power pack entirely out of another one. As he attempted to do the same to the next one, Lowie's droid exploded in a ground quaking fireball that evaporated the other droids and sent shrapnel through the door into the server room where several of the server towers absorbed the chunks of metal.

Together, Wookiee and Human stood up to examine the flaming wreckage, and looked to each other with a measure of satisfaction.

Set the bombs for ten minutes, Lowie ordered.

"Set and ready to synchronize," Sal said. "Zara, let me know when you're ready."

"What do you think I've been doing over here?" Zara snapped from behind the servers. "Arm in three…"

"Two."

"One."

Twinned bleeps from across the room indicated the bombs were ready to go, and the five-minute count-down commenced. Together the team retreated from the server room and back to the elevator where they rode up in silence.

Upon arriving at the ground floor of Synergy Technology, people were running about in a panic, hardly noticing the two Jedi with lightsabers in hand. Lowie checked his wrist chronometer and saw less than a minute left on the timer. Together they ran toward the area they had entered the building at and pulled a fire alarm on the way out. As inconspicuously as possible, they walked away from the building and disappeared through the crowd until they felt a tremor shake the ground beneath them. Lowie pulled out his communicator and sent a message on subspace to both the _Solo Quest_ and the Black Vornskr central command.

 _Black Sun database destroyed._

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The two guards outside the high security area were still in position, but were busy examining their data pads as the Jedi approached.

"Have they identified the escapee yet?" one of the guards asked the other.

"Not yet. They found the empty bed but it looks like several of those little brats were trading bunks. They're doing a roll call now."

Jysella winked to Luke and approached the guards. Luke followed her closely. "Sargent, do you need any help? Everything's quiet out here."

"No…who are you?" The two guards looked at Jysella and she pushed her presence into the guards' minds, forcing them to recognize her as someone they've worked with for months.

Jysella laughed and punched the guard's shoulder playfully and quickly read his name tag. "Oh, come on, Toron, you're such a tease."

"Gotta keep you on your toes," the guard said with a laugh. "We're all locked down. No problems here."

"You look tired," Jysella said, pushing into their minds further. "You should take a nap."

"We should take a nap," the two guards said in unison.

"We'll take your shift."

"You'll take our shift."

"Just lie down and go to sleep."

Both guards laid down on the ground and immediately passed out.

"Your dad would be proud," Luke said as he knelt down and retrieved the keycard from the guard. He passed it to her and she used it to open the door.

To their surprise, a woman with red hair stood there. Her left eye was swollen shut, her jaw was bruised, her clothes were torn and bloodied, and her right arm was in a sling.

"Took ya long enough," Mara slurred and collapsed into Jysella's arms.

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After finishing off the last of the fighters and severely damaging the defenses around the Synergy Technology building, Jaina got the all-clear from Lowie and angled the _Solo Quest_ south, away from the city and towards the nearest ocean. The skyfighter that had switched sides formed up on her starboard side, and Jaina finally got a good look at the pilot. It didn't take her long to realize that the red hair blowing in the wind belonged to her cousin.  
"When did that happen?" Jaina asked the empty cockpit. After about twenty minutes of flying, once they were out over the ocean and sure that they had escaped pusuit, the two women throttled their ships back and set them to hover. Ami maneuvered her ship over top of the _Solo Quest_ and jumped out to land on top of it. A few minutes later Ami appeared in the cockpit behind Jaina with a big grin on her face.

"That was so fraking crazy," Ami said, dropping into the co-pilot seat. "Did you see what I did?"  
"Something tells me I don't want to know," Jaina said and throttled the ship back up, setting a course for space and leaving the skyfighter behind.

"Probably not. Did Lowie get away?"

"Yeah, they launched a few minutes ago." Jaina said. "But they lost Zara. Apparently she just vanished when they weren't looking."

"No big loss," Ami said. "She wasn't very nice."

"Yeah," Jaina agreed. "Lowie gave me somewhere to meet up a couple jumps from here. You should look at that arm before you bleed on the secondary throttle assembly."

"Oh, right!" Ami said, jumping out of her seat and rushing out of the cockpit.

"And don't bleed on the walls either!" Jaina shouted over her shoulder with a laugh. Her smile slowly faded as she realized how weird, but not unpleasant, it was to feel anything other than misery. After a few moments of quiet reflection, the navicomputer chirped at her to let her know it was time to activate the hyperdrive, which she was more than happy to do.


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: you wanted more Eriana...here you go ;) Two more chapters after this one. Then the epilogue...which I haven't decided which one I'm using yet. I have two written and...I'm honestly torn on how I'm going to end the series. Maybe I'll let you guys decide.

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To Jacen's benefit, whoever had administered the sleeping agent to him knew very little about Jedi capabilities. It was almost too easy for him to stop the flow of anesthesia inside the small device attached to his arm and pretend to be unconscious while he was unceremoniously rolled into the storage compartment on the small ship. Once placed in the compartment, Jacen deactivated the device and went into a meditative state to monitor his surroundings. The transmission between Sherdoy and Titan did not surprise him. In fact, he was somewhat relieved as he was rather excited to meet the man who had replaced Darth Krayt at the tip of the spear that was being driven into the heart of the Jedi Coalition. Unlike with Krayt, Jacen knew this new threat had to be put down immediately. After deactivating the device on Tenel Ka's arm, he meditated patiently as the ship hummed through hyperspace.

 _Jacen?_

 _I'm here._ Jacen thought towards the voice that had interrupted his meditation. _How are you?_

There was a pause. He could sense she was trying to phrase the question properly before asking it.

 _I didn't want you to get hurt,_ Jacen sent to her before she could respond. _I've gone up against Droidekas. They're…_

 _Nothing we shouldn't be able to handle together._ Tenel Ka finished for him. He could sense the annoyance in her empathic thoughts and cringed inwardly. He really had no way of winning the coming argument.

 _You're still recovering,_ Jacen sent. _If I ever have to choose between you and winning, I choose you every time._

 _I have never been won over with fancy words!_ Tenel Ka's thought was like a slap across the face. _I am a warrior…_

 _And my wife,_ Jacen interrupted. _The one person I've been able to rely on my entire life, always, for anything. I can't lose you._ _I surrendered because I don't want our kids to grow up without their mother and I'm not going to fight a battle that we can't win._

 _Instead we get dragged in front of Darth Titan in shackles for him to kill at our leisure?_

 _Six guards and a guy who sits at a desk all day?_ Jacen asked. _We could take this shuttle in two minutes._ S _herdoy is bringing us personally to Darth Titan. This is the perfect chance to cut both serpents' heads off._

After a moment of silence, Tenel Ka finally responded. _This is a fact._

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When the shuttle engines finally disengaged, Jacen awoke to the sound of the storage compartment being opened. The guards jumped to attention, pointing their blasters at him ready to fire when they noticed his eyes were open.

"Oh, did I take your seat?" Jacen asked and pulled himself to his feet. He dropped the shackles into the compartment and stepped out, still at gunpoint, with his hands raised to shoulder height. "My apologies. Please, feel free."

"Put the shackles back on, Jedi scum," one of the guards said.

Jacen noticed that Tenel Ka was still locked in her compartment, and Sherdoy was talking to someone outside the ship several metres away from the bottom of the boarding ramp.

"Let's make this easier for you," Jacen said. He crushed the blasters with the Force and popped the latch on Tenel Ka's compartment. The guards drew their stun batons and tried to rush him, but he simply pressed the troopers back with the Force to restrict them to a distance of two metres from him. Jacen helped Tenel Ka to her feet, and together they looked at their ineffective captors.

"You can put those away," Jacen offered. "We'll come quietly. Please, lead on."

The guards looked at him uneasily but did not budge.

"They don't even work on me," Jacen said and yanked one of the stun batons to his hand. He grabbed it with the business end and let the coursing energy bleed back into the Force as it snapped and hissed against his skin. He deactivated it and tossed it back to the guard as Sherdoy began ascending the ramp.

"What's going on here? Why are they awake and unshackled?"

"Sir, they were like that when we opened the compartments," one of the guards said. "They're offering to come peacefully."

"We are Jedi," Jacen said with a small smile and shrug.

Sherdoy eyed them suspiciously and nodded. "Bring them."

At the bottom of the ramp, Sherdoy's guards were replaced by four Bogan warriors, each holding lightsabers at the ready. They fell in on either side of Jacen and Tenel Ka and followed Sherdoy out of the hanger bay and through the wide corridors of the ship until they reached a tram. They rode the tram for several kilometres until they exited and were escorted for another twenty minute walk to a conference room where the two Jedi were left alone.

Jacen could sense the warriors were outside the door guarding them, but Sherdoy had left. He also sensed ample surveillance in the room, so he sat on the conference table and gestured Tenel Ka to sit beside him.

"May as well get comfortable," Jacen said.

"Do you have a plan yet?" Tenel Ka asked as she took her place beside him. He naturally put an arm around her waist and hugged her closer.

"Of course," Jacen said. Empathically, he finished. _I'm waiting to see what they do. You?_

 _You got us into this,_ Tenel Ka thought. _You get us out._

" _Well, isn't this cute,_ " a raspy voice came from behind the couple. " _Husband and wife assassins. I didn't expect the Jedi to be so bold._ "

Jacen and Tenel Ka slid off the conference table and turned to face the hologram glowing above the projector built into the middle of the table. A figure about a metre high with a heavy robe covering his entire body held a menacing air. The hood cast his face in darkness, exposing only his goateed chin. A moment later Sherdoy appeared beside him, still holding Jacen and Tenel Ka's lightsabers.

"That's a rather menacing goatee you have there," Jacen said. "Does that mean you're the bad guy?"

" _You've never thought life to be anything more than a joke, Solo,"_ Titan said. " _In the last moments of your life, I'll show you how big a joke you really are._ "

"Are you that big of a coward that you wouldn't face me in person?" Jacen asked.

" _Better a live duck than a dead vornskr_ ," Titan replied. " _Speaking of dead vornskrs, I received a rather interesting report today about a Black Vornskr fleet amassing in the Borleas sector, poised to attack Coruscant. How strong is the Black Vornskr fleet?_ "

"Why would I know anything about a pirate organization?" Jacen deflected. "I'm a Jedi Master. We don't consort with pirates."

A hearty laugh came from the hooded figure. " _This, from the man who married the queen of pirates?_ "

Jacen looked at Tenel Ka and shrugged.

"What can I say? She's cute."

" _You're nothing more than a privileged brat,"_ Titan replied in an acidic tone. " _I should've killed you years ago."_

"Is the fact that you're not in the room with me an indication of how much you fear little ol'me?" Jacen asked. "If you are who I think you are, you've always been one of the biggest cowards among the Jedi."

" _A coward does not race toward battle,"_ Titan said. He gestured to his left where a display activated on the wall behind the hologram. " _Watch as I put down your precious pet Vornksrs._ "

The hologram faded as the room lurched in the familiar sensation of a ship dropping out of hyperspace. Jacen and Tenel Ka moved around the table to the tactical display. Two red triangles indicated the presence of the enormous _Obsidian_ -Class destroyers. Around them were several hundred smaller red triangles which, under closer examination, were mostly Star Destroyers of one sort or another. Fighters began streaming out of the ships and forming up to create a line between the big red triangles and the many green triangles sitting in a scattered, unprepared enemy formation several kilometres away. Jacen began counting the green triangles and he felt like his heart was being squeezed by an invisible hand.

 _That's too big to be Eriana's fleet_ , Jacen sent to Tenel Ka. _That's almost_ every _Vornskr ship._

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"They're here."

The calm words from the ship's commander were enough to break Eriana out of her meditation, but she already knew the news before he had spoken. Jacen was on one of those ships, and with him both Tenel Ka and Darth Titan. She opened her eyes and blinked away the blurriness to allow her to look at the man who had spoken clearly, and nodded her acknowledgement of his update.

"Colonel Harrington, please use a secure line to inform Admiral Antilles that Titan has taken the bait," Eriana ordered softly before turning around to bark out more orders. "Communication, inform the Admiralty to proceed with plan beta. Get the Rancors up to the front. Ready the Archers and the Swarm. Remember your objectives, keep to them, and stop for nothing! Move, Vornskrs, move!"

As orders began flying out, the haphazardly scattered formation reorganized itself in under a minute to face the oncoming Bogan threat. Eriana smiled at the formation design of General Cooper's – made to look like they were caught unaware, ships were spread out in a way that would allow them to reorganize en mass in any direction that the enemy had chosen to approach from. Even though Eriana was quite certain that they would approach from a core-ward direction, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Fifty of the retrofitted Star Destroyers, code named Rancors, took up formation at the front of the charge and activated their shielding systems. Designed to slightly overlap with each other, they created a wall of planetary grade shields in space to protect the fleet forming up behind them from the superlaser equipped _Obsidian_ -class destroyers. Behind the wall of Rancors were a swarm of _Pirhana_ class assault ships and the Archers – capital ships equipped with high-powered turbolasers based on a scaled-down design of Danni Quee's superlaser that Wedge felt comfortable with granting to the pirate fleet. As the fleet had to be scattered about to provide an equal ability to react from all sides, three more waves of Vornskr ships followed the first with a similar attack pattern. At the very back amid the last of the archers was Eriana's command ship, relatively safe from the attack with a Mandalorian cloaking device keeping it hidden from enemy sensors.

"Focus all fire on the starboard _Obsidian_ and any of the support craft," Eriana directed, knowing that Jacen was on the port _Obsidian_. She wanted to give her friend every opportunity to escape before slagging that ship. "Harrington, how are we doing on the Pounders?"

"Danni's still working the bugs out on the targeting system," Harrington replied. "It won't be long now."

Eriana gritted her teeth and looked up at the fleet. The first blasts from the _Obsidians_ dissipated brilliantly across two of the shields until the generators powering them blew. One ship was saved by an overlapping shield, but the other ship took a glancing blow that ripped through the white triangular hull and breached the port power generator. The power generator exploded, shattering the hull horizontally down the middle. The ship slowly drifted into two giant chunks as escape pods poured out of it and the ships behind it made careful yet fast course adjustments to avoid it.

"Those two blasts were full power," Harrington said. "One minute and forty-five seconds are on the counter. The Rancors are dropping the wall."

Eriana turned her attention to the tactical display as the Archers began peppering the starboard Obsidian class ship – now displayed with the tag _Krayt's Legacy_ – with their turbolasers a the Swarm of hundreds of _Piranha_ -class ships disappeared and reappeared amid the enemy fleet. True to their names, the Archers wreaked severe damage on the _Krayt's Legacy's_ shields while the Swarm overwhelmed Star Destroyer after Star Destroyer with an incredible amount of torpedoes and laser fire not normally seen from such a small class of ship.

"Archers, ceasefire," Harrington ordered. "Rancors, shields up. Good work taskforce one – _Krayt's_ shields are down to thirty percent."

Space dimmed when the Archers complied with their orders, but the protective shield of the Rancors, while invisible to the naked eye, appeared on Eriana's display. She watched as the second wave of ships finally came into formation, and the third wave was nearly ready to go. With a flash of intuition, she cued the direct line to the wave commanders.

"Taskforce two and three," Eriana said. "Move to flanking positions around taskforce one. Give _Krayt's Legacy_ all you've got. Monitor who those ships are aiming at. If they're pointed at you, keep the shields up. If they're not, give 'em hell.

The two fleets broke out to their assigned directions at full thrust, still moving far too slow for Eriana's liking. As the first fleet began getting closer and closer to the enemy fleet, Eriana watched while the Archers began picking off larger ships as the moving wall of shields allowed them to, but she clenched her jaw in agitation. The _Obsidians_ weren't firing back. Titan was up to something. She looked up around the room and saw her staff busy at work with fleet or ship operations. Except for one person at the weapons control station – Private Kijmur.

"Kijmur, come here," Eriana called out. The young man turned and looked at her with surprise before stumbling to his feet and rushing across the bridge to her side.

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a little bit more fear in his voice than she liked.

"Titan stopped firing the big guns," Eriana said. "What do you think he's planning?"

"I-I-"

"Stop, analyse, and think about it before speaking," Eriana interrupted calmly. "I want your assessment, not regurgitated theory or the first stupid thing that comes to your mind. We have a strategy that is taking large chunks out of their fleet and can minimize the damage of their biggest guns. What would you do to stop us?"

Both fell silent for a moment while they stared at the display.

"A fleet this size needs to be coordinated somewhere," Kijmur said. "I would try to eliminate the people coordinating it."

"We're cloaked," Eriana said. "Their sensors can't see us…"

Eriana looked up with a cold realization of something she didn't plan on. The shield walls of the first and third fleets moved slightly past the direct line of sight of the _Tormenter_ , Titan's flagship, and her heart felt like it sunk below her knees.

"But Titan can target with the Force."

A stream of deadly green light lanced at the _Hunter IV_ from across space and Eriana found herself flying across her bridge.

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"Damage report!" Eriana shouted as she pulled herself out the pile of debris that had been a diagnostic console. She silently thanked her Jensaarai armour for taking the brunt of the impact and got to her feet. Miraculously, Harrington was still at his post.

"The blow grazed our lower port side," Harrington said. "Massive damage to the power grid. Our cloak is down as are most key systems. Life support is on battery only. Casualty reports are coming in high."

"Subspace communications?"

"Still working."

Eriana looked at him viciously. "Send in the Pounders."

Harrington nodded and relayed the message.

Eriana pulled herself back to the console and found Kijmur's body sprawled across it. She pulled him off with one arm and looked at the flickering display as it struggled to show her the image of the combatting fleets. To her surprise, Titan's command ship was showing shields below five percent and _Krayt's Legacy_ was taking heavy hull and system damage. Either the display was wrong, or her Vornskrs were putting up a hell of a battle after seeing her ship get hit.

"Pounders have been launched," Harrington reported. "Also, Fleet Three's wall is now protecting us."

"Finally some good news," Eriana muttered. "What's our expected outcome?"

"Eighty percent or higher," Harrington said and looked over at her. "At least, that's what Danni reports."

"Tell the fleets to jump," Eriana ordered. "I want them out of here now."

She walked up to Harrington and together they watched as the three fleets jumped to hyperspace, leaving a few ships behind that were too badly damaged to escape. A few seconds later, the enemy fleet began to light up. Explosions flared to life as the Pounders, hyperdrive equipped asteroids, dropped out of hyperspace and slammed into the weakened shields of the enemy ships. Anything larger than a Star Destroyer found itself with asteroid after asteroid pummeling them, ripping great holes into their hulls. _Krayt's Legacy_ took the brunt of it with dozens of asteroids slamming into its black hull before it finally exploded in the chain reaction of each of its eight power plants exploding in sequence.

Several more asteroids slammed into the _Tormenter_ , but its shields held off most of the damage before finally collapsing under the strain. When the asteroids stopped, most of the enemy fleet had been decimated, save the _Tormenter_ and the starfighters. Eriana retreated to her tactical display and saw a huge swarm of starfighters change their heading toward the _Hunter IV_ , but they were still well over ten minutes away. A bleep from Harrington's console caught her attention.

He smiled bitterly and looked up at Eriana. "We just got confirmation that the remainder of the fleets have arrived at Coruscant and are setting up their assault with Admiral Antilles. The distraction seems to have worked – they only have two of their _Obsidians_ left at Corsucant. Wedge reports it should be an easy victory."

"How much of the fleet arrived?"

Harrington paused a moment. "About sixty percent. I'm also reading minimal damage to _Tormentor_ 's superlaser. It's possible they can't fire it."

Eriana nodded and stared back at the tactical display for a second. "That must be why they're sending the fighters. What's the status of our hyperdrive?"

Harrington called up the appropriate screen and let out a deep breath.

"The power conduits were badly damaged," he said. "The drive still works but we might get half a second at most before the power grid blows out permanently. There's no way we can escape this system."

"It'll do," Eriana said. She pointed to the navigation controls. "Route whatever systems still work through that console. No arguments, just do it.

"Mishell, give me galaxy-wide to every fleet and every base," Eriana said to her communications officer. "Make sure everyone gets this. I want every single Vornskr listening regardless where they are."

Mishell briefly glanced at her leader brooding over the damaged tactical display. The displaced strands of light hair across her slightly scorched face only emphasized the sincerity in her request. As Mishell turned to activate the communication system, Eriana replaced her Bha'lir styled helmet on her head. A tone echoed through the damaged bridge over the sparks of shorting out circuitry and low murmurs between crewmembers, and Eriana cleared her throat.

"My Black Vornskrs," Eriana started. "The bravest and best pirates the galaxy has ever known. Our stand at Borleas is over. Our fleet has been broken, our teeth dulled. But I tell you our spirits have _not_. We are not dead yet, and this is still our battle to lose. And we _will_ _not_ lose! This was our chance to take a stand against the Bogan Empire, and we made _one hell of a stand!_ Today is not over, and neither are we. In the battle before me of a fleet of over a hundred ships, only one disabled _Obsidian_ class destroyer remains. Their fighters are closing, but this does not mean we are finished! We will still fight with every ounce of our being.

"To the Vornskrs not at Borleas, remember your friends. Remember your fellow beings. Your brothers, your sisters, your clan mates. The Bogan Empire needs to be stopped. The Bogans tell us of how great their power is, but I tell you a greater truth: _you_ are the greatest power in the galaxy. Not because of fear or the Force, but because you fight for freedom. Whatever powers that Darth Titan wants to throw at us, _nothing_ he will do can stand to the power of beings who fight for what is right."

Eriana looked up and saw the steeled looks of determination on every member of her crew looking back at her.

"We started out as pirates, a rag-tag group of misfits looking to make some credits. But we are so much more now." Eriana continued as she removed her helmet, exposing her face to all of the Vornskrs for the first time. "I've seen us change from pirates to patriots – people looking to fight for what is just. Trust me when I say that you all, like me, are Jedi at heart,"

She drew a lightsaber and ignited it, letting them see the yellow blade that she had made famous. "The Jedi are not just people with a mythical ability. They are the beings that see injustice and fight against it. They are the beings that take the biggest baddest assholes the galaxy has to throw at us and sends them to their knees!

"Don't live in darkness. Don't let Darth Titan tell _us_ who rules this galaxy. The end of this war will come when our strength and our courage leads us to standing over his corpse and sending those Bogan slugs back to the hole they crawled out of. Fight on, my Vornskrs. Tell _them_ who rules this galaxy!"

She paused and stared into the camera, letting the gravity of the situation sink in as shorted wires snapped and gasses continued to hiss in the background around her as the ship continued its slow death.

"When you fight, remember me. Remember _my_ sacrifice for you, and live with the courage to do the right thing. The Force will be with you, always."

Eriana nodded to the communications officer, who cut the connection. She did her best to ignore the quiet looks of concern everyone was staring at her with. She took a deep breath and let the moment of melancholy pass.

"Signal the immediate evacuation the ship," Eriana barked. "All hands are to abandon ship immediately. Set escape pods to rendezvous at meeting point gamma."

"You don't need to do this," Harrington insisted. "Any of us would fly the ship for you."

Eriana put a hand on his shoulder.

"I've never ordered someone to do something I wouldn't do myself," Eriana said. "And I don't intend to start now. Reroute the systems and get your ass off my ship. That's an order."

"I must protest," Harrington said. Something in his eyes caught Eriana's attention, but she ignored it. It wasn't the time or place for _that_.

"We must fight on," Eriana said. "All of us, in our own ways. Regroup and rebuild. Now, _go_."

As everyone filtered out of the bridge, most of them shook her hand or squeezed her arm in passing. When she was finally alone she put her helmet back on and sat down at the console, strapping into the chair and preparing the ship for what she needed it to do. She finally received an all-clear signal from Harrington's escape pod and began to reorient the ship, lining it up with the massive _Obsidian_ class destroyer looming far in front of her.

"May the Force be with me?"

She reached over, grabbed a lever, and pulled it.

The _Hunter IV_ sprung into hyperspace for a fraction of a second, crossing the distance between its former location and the _Obsidian_ in a heartbeat. The ship shook as the power conduits exploded and it dropped out of hyperspace half a kilometre from the _Tormenter_. The residual speed of the old Victory class Star Destroyer gave it all the momentum it needed to carry out its final mission.

Eriana watched as the spear-headed point of the ship dug into the side of the _Obsidian_ and the entire ship shook with the tremors of impact. She was thrown about in the chair, feeling like she was going to be torn in half by the crash webbing for the longest twenty seconds of her life that it took for the Star Destroyer to embed the front half of itself into the superstructure of the other ship. When the tremors finally stopped, Eriana let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

"Frak me," Eriana said to the empty ship. "It actually worked."

She locked down some of the controls before unlatching the crash webbing and floating out of the chair. As her stomach lurched, she momentarily reflected that if it wasn't for the lack of artificial gravity, she probably would have fallen flat on her face from the disorientation caused by the collision. She quickly double checked the seals on her suit and that her lightsabers were still in their holsters. Satisfied that she was ready, she drew her lightsabers and ignited them, then kicked off toward the front viewport.

 _Look out, Titan. Here I come._


	12. Chapter 11

A/N Hey JR, good to see you again. You wouldn't be the first; she's certainly my favourite too. Drop me a PM. Want to ask you something.

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Drifting through space toward the gigantic _Obsidian_ destroyer, Eriana homed in on Jacen's location and used the Force to pull herself in that direction, much like how a Yuuzhan Vong dovin basal used gravity to travel through space. The two ships, slowly spinning from the momentum of the _Hunter IV_ 's impact, seemed enormous from the outside, like a giant beast that had decided to bite an even bigger giant and not release it. She tried to ignore how small she felt and pulled harder against Jacen's location. After a few long minutes she flipped over and used the Force to slow her descent, landing feet first on the black hull that gave the _Obsidian-_ class destroyers their signature name. Without proper gravity boots in her armour, she had to resort to using the Force to keep her feet on the hull. She sprinted along the hull in slow motion, still fixated on Jacen's position, until she found a transparisteel window. After scanning the room with the Force to ensure nobody was in it, she plunged her lightsabers into the window and carved a hole until it blew away with several artifacts from the room. When air stream stopped she crawled into the room and dropped to the ground in a crouch. Information flooded her HUD showing doors and access panels amid the ruined personal quarters of some mid-tier officer. As she suspected, the door leading to the corridor was locked down now that the room was devoid of air. Rather than attempt the access panel, she reached into the Force and released the emergency latches on the door. She pushed it open with her mind against the straining motors until the system blew and the doors slammed open.

Eriana pulled her way through the door against the new stream of escaping air and closed the door behind her, sealing the leak. As the air level improved according to the display on her HUD, her suit automatically switched over to ambient air and began refilling her reserve.

With the easy part over, Eriana took a deep breath, ignited her lightsabers, and set off to find her friend.

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Hiding in Eriana's old cabin, which was the only room in the ship with a work bench and tools appropriate for tinkering with small electronics, Jaina sat hunched over her half-disassembled lightsaber. The hilt that had survived her years of training on Yavin IV and the Yuuzhan Vong War took some of it's worse damage during her escape from Wedge's command ship and she finally found the need to repair it. After her escape she hadn't bothered to repair the scratches and dents that had been caused by her mom throwing the lightsaber across her cell. Or replace the improperly sized power cell that she was forced to replace with her guard's blaster power pack. Or fix the damaged flux aperture from when she jumped the _Falcon_ to hyperspace without having it secured to her belt. Working on her lightsaber was a form of therapy for her; something to focus on that she felt empowered enough to be able to fix without screwing everything up.

"Heard you flew pretty well," Sal said. Jaina jumped a bit, not having noticed the door had opened.

"Apparently," Jaina said miserably and turned back to her lightsaber. "Thought you were fixing the laser cannon with Ami."

"Easy enough patch, only took a couple hours," Sal said. He took a chair from beside the bunk and put it beside her, choosing to ignore her sour expression as he sat down beside her. "Where did you find the lightsaber?"

"Jacen's quarters. It was on his desk. I don't know where he found it. I thought I left it on the _Falcon_."

"He must have grabbed it when we hid the ship on Dostra I," Sal said. "You know, as angry as he was when he found you, I think he still cares about you."

Jaina shrugged and picked up the field energizer, visually inspecting it for flaws. "He has every right to be angry. I fraked everything up. When we get back I'll disappear again. It'll be better for everyone."

"You don't have to," Sal said. "The Jedi need people like you."

"I don't think the Jedi need…what did he call me? A cheap death stick whore?"

"Kinda surprised you were lucid enough to remember that," Sal admitted. When she didn't reply, he continued. "You could be a pilot again. Or become an underworld spy like me. I don't know. Just be something better. You know you're capable of more than… whatever you were doing."

Jaina flipped the field energizer to the table, likely damaging it, and finally turned to face her unwanted guest.

"I tried going back to the military," Jaina said. "That got me lined up for a court marshall. I tried being a Jedi. The only thing they found for me to do was fight a war and kill people. That got me into every single fraked up situation I've been in since I was fourteen years old. Why would I want to go back to _that_?"

"Seems like most of your family is with the Jedi," Sal said and stood up. "If I had any family left I'd want to be with them. Isn't that reason enough?"

Jaina back at her broken lightsaber to avoid his gaze and shrugged. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she still avoided looking up at him.

"The longer you wait, the more painful the bacta patch will be to rip off."

The door opened, drawing Sal and Jaina's attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ami said with a weird smile on her face. "Ummm, we're almost at Bortras. Jaina, did you want to fly still? I can do it, but you're a way better pilot than I am."

Sal gave Jaina a smile and finally left the room, earning a mildly confused glare from Ami as he passed by.

"Sure, I guess," Jaina said and started tossing the parts of her lightsaber into a box. "I can work on this later."

"Everything okay?"

"You really don't understand how hard this is for me, do you?" Jaina snapped, tossing the new power supply into the box and slamming the lid shut. "Going back after what I did? I am a _legitimate_ disgrace to everything the Jedi stand for. There is no coming back from where I went."

"I think you're confusing trauma induced stress and depression with being a Sith Lord and killing baby Jedi," Ami said. "I don't think those are the same thing. You just helped topple the Black Sun. That should count for something."

"I'm still not entirely convinced that I'm the vicitim of some elabourate prank." Jaina sat back on the bench and folded her arms. "All I have is the word of a one of my best friends and ship full of people I never knew existed a week ago. I know he may not seem like it, but Lowie can pull together some pretty good pranks if he puts his mind to it. It almost feels like this is some kind of ruse everyone is doing to fix their broken friend."

"Jacen and Tenel Ka were kidnapped as part of this mission," Ami said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "And we have no idea where they're being taken or what they're doing to them. This isn't some ploy or prank that we're pulling on you. This is, like…some serious shavit, y'know?"

Jaina couldn't help but cough out a bitter laugh.

"'Some serious shavit?'"

"I don't really do 'inspirational,'" Ami muttered. "Come on. Stick with us for a bit longer. Help us find your brother. He saved you from whatever hell hole you were crawling down. The least you can do is return the favour."

Jaina nodded slowly. "He's still going to be pissed off with me."

"Frak, yeah," Ami said. "After what I saw him go through when you were downing death sticks? I don't blame him. I have half a mind to slap your face off, and I only witnessed it."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know? You don't know what it was doing to him?"

Jaina shook her head, quite bewildered by Ami's reaction.

"The way he described it, whatever you were trying to avoid, he got the full blast of. I was with him one time and whatever you took was enough to knock him out cold for ten minutes. Something about a bond between you two that sent it all to him. And you know how tough a gundark he is, so it must have been on hell of a hit."

"I had no idea," Jaina said numbly.

"I say you owe him a few big ones."

A chime rang through the ship, effectively ending their conversation.

"Five minute warning," Ami said and walked off towards the cockpit. "Time to fly, Captain."

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As a matter of professional pride, even though Jacen could sense Eriana closing in on them, he still wanted to escape before she arrived. The stun cuffs and shackles binding his arms and legs were the easy part. He had already disabled the electronics on both his and Tenel Ka's restraints and they were holding them together with the Force. He also knew exactly where their lightsabers were and could teleport them to his hands in a heartbeat.

Creating a plan to deal with the twenty Bogan Warriors, twelve droidekas, and hundred or so troopers escorting them to a holding cell was what was holding up his escape plans. As they turned down another wide corridor the escort fanned out to fill it from wall-to-wall to maximize potential firepower to bear on the two Jedi, both in front and behind them. As they busied with that maneuver, Jacen spared a glance at his wife.

 _Should we wait until we're in the cell?_ Jacen asked Tenel Ka. _Might be easier._

 _Unless they're going to put us in carbonite or an airlock,_ Tenel Ka replied.

"I s-s-sense you communicating," one of the Bogans – a tall and particularly ugly Trandoshan – hissed at his captives. "S-s-stop."

 _Can I talk to you instead?_ Jacen projected his voice into the Trandoshan's head. _My name is Jacen. Do you want to be my friend?_

A spinning back fist to the face sent Jacen to the ground, holding up the escort parade.

"I'll take that as a no," Jacen grunted.

"Get up," the Trandoshan hissed.

"Fine," Jacen said and stood up, leaving his restraints behind. He jumped at the Trandoshan and yanked his lightsabers through subspace to his hands, crossing them at the Trandoshan's neck and activating them, severing the shocked reptilian head from its body. He tossed his brother's lightsaber to Tenel Ka and repeated the feat of pulling her rancor-toothed saber to him, activating it while starting to deflect attacks from lightsabers and blaster bolts alike. Back-to-back and linked telepathically, Jacen and Tenel Ka worked in unison to defend each other, using the overwhelming number of enemy targets to their advantage, deflecting or dodging blaster bolts to pick off targets. After a couple moments the Bogans retreated, allowing the droidekas to waddle forward and pummel the Jedi with blaster bolts from all sides behind a wall of spherical shields.

Within seconds the air was full of blaster bolts being fired at the Jedi and impacting off lightsabers or droideka shields. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of blaster fire, Jacen and Tenel Ka began to move, using their battle meld to jump, dodge, and deflect the onslaught to focus the enemy fire as best as possible at one droideka. With that much firepower directed at one droid, its shield collapsed and the droid exploded, forcing the droidekas to shift their line to fill the hole.

While Jacen and Tenel Ka fought for their lives against the droidekas, all of the Bogan Warriors and troopers were watching, mesmerized by the incredible lightshow before them. Mesmerized enough, that is, to not notice the thermal detonators stored on the backs of the rear-guard troopers being activated.

The combined explosion tore through their ranks, shredding both troopers and Warriors alike and severely depleting the energy reserves of the droidekas on that side of the hallway. The deck plating incinerated from the explosion and sections around the perimeter collapsed downwards, taking several of the droidekas with it, as well as Jacen and Tenel Ka, forcing the other droids to pause their fire to assess the situation.

Instead of falling to the deck below, Jacen and Tenel Ka found themselves tumbling through the air over the carnage as blaster bolts began flying at them again. They landed hard on the deck plating and slid behind a wall on their own accord up to the feet of a black-armoured individual that was looking down at them.

"Good distraction," Eriana said, offering a hand to Tenel Ka. "Now if you don't mind, we have a Titan to kill."

"About that," Jacen said painfully, putting a hand inside his jacket. He hissed and pulled his hand back out. His fingertips were covered with dark crimson blood. "I've kinda been impaled."

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jysella eased Mara's limp form to the ground and checked for a pulse.

"She's still alive," Jysella said, not entirely able to strip the surprise from her voice.

Luke looked back and forth down the hallway, but nobody was coming.

"We won't be able to carry her far," Luke said. "Help me get her up."

Using the Force and their muscles, Luke and Jysella were able to hoist Mara onto Luke's right shoulder. It took considerable concentration for him to maintain his balance and control over his legs, but he managed to steady himself.

"I can carry her, Master Luke," Jysella offered, but a harsh glare deterred her.

"I owe her this," Luke simply said. "Besides, I'll be no good in a fight as it is."

"Should we steal a speeder or call in Chitter?"

"Call Chitter," Luke said. The sound of heavy boots approaching caught their attention. "Time to go."

They set off at a brisk pace toward the room they had entered the building from until they heard shouting back from the direction they came from. They exchanged a glance and began running as fast as they could. Blaster bolts began glancing off the walls around them and Jysella dropped back a couple paces, drawing her lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts back at their pursurers.

"Bluebird…dinner…in…sixty…seconds!" Luke puffed out, breathing heavy from the exhertion his body was not used to. He drew on the Force further to compensate, but his concentration was beginning to be split in too many directions. He felt something hit his leg, but he ignored it and kept pushing his body to move.

The two Jedi finally reached the roof service room and Luke twisted the handle, but it didn't budge.

"They're in lock down," Luke said. "Cover me."

Jysella settled in a couple metres away from Luke and switched her stance to one that would allow her better balance to deflect blaster bolts. Luke awkwardly pulled his lightsaber from his belt with his left hand while still holding Mara on his shoulder and used it to cut the door length-wise close to the hinges. He pulled the door open with the Force and rushed up the stairs, pushing his legs with only the power of the Force. Jysella soon followed, slowly walking up the stairs backwards, protecting both herself and the two Jedi Masters from the onslaught of blaster bolts coming at them. While Luke had walked several metres further onto the roof, Jysella stayed at the hatch.  
"Come on!" Luke called. "They're on the way!"

"I'll cover you," Jysella shouted back. "Just get on the ship!"

Luke watched in horror as a blaster bolt went right through Jysella's the left shoulder, but the young Jedi Knight stood her ground, switching to a single-handed defense without even a grunt of pain.

The ship dropped in from above, almost slamming into the roof as the repulsorlifts took over, hovering just above Luke. The boarding ramp dropped right in front of Luke with Nelani and Ben waiting for him.

"Come on!" Nelani shouted, holding a hand towards Luke. "There are TIEs incoming!"

Luke pushed himself towards the ramp and finally collapsed on it, careful to land on his left side to protect Mara from the fall. Nelani grabbed Mara under the arms and pulled her further into the ship as Ben grabbed Luke the same way.

The Jedi Master watched helplessly as another blaster bolt hit Jysella, dropping her to one knee. The last thing he saw was the young Jedi Knight still keeping her lightsaber up to protect their retreat as he finally passed out from exhaustion.

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Tenel Ka and Eriana ran through the corridor with Jacen levitated between them until they found a conference room with nobody in it to hole up in. Tenel Ka floated Jacen onto the large table and used her lightsaber to cut off his jacket, revealing a jagged chunk of two-centimetre thick durasteel deck plating sticking through his lower ribcage.

"That'll leave a mark," Jacen said and started giggling to himself. The sudden movement sent waves of agony through him and he stopped laughing out of sheer necessity, focusing on the lessons he learned from Vergere about accepting the pain coursing through him.

"I've locked the doors," Eriana said, returning from the far corner of the room and removed her helmet. "But they have lightsabers. Oh, that'll leave a mark."

"That's what I said," Jacen remarked. "We need a plan."

Tenel Ka's eyes went wide. "Our plan is to get you off this ship and to a medical centre. You're going into shock."

"T'is nothing but a flesh wound," he grunted. "I'm fine."

"Jacen…"

The panel by the door flashed red and buzzed, indicating someone was trying to get through Eriana's new encryption.

"That's not going to hold long," Eriana said. "What can we do?"

"He can't fight like this," Tenel Ka replied, taking a grip on her lightsaber. "We must protect him."

Jacen closed his eyes and shook his head.

"There are too many," he said and coughed. After five strong hacking coughs, he got his breathing under control, but could not hide the blood he had coughed out on his hand from the two women. "I count twenty warriors, and about fifty soldiers. You haven't fought together enough to…" More coughs wracked his body and Tenel Ka put a hand against his shoulder, trying to give him support.

"You need a healing trance."

"Really?" Jacen grunted sarcastically against the pain and tried smiling, but it ended up looking like a grimace. He looked past his wife up at his friend. "Eriana, you know what you have to do."

Eriana's face went white and she took a step back. "No. No, no no no. Jacen, I am _not_ doing that!"

Tenel Ka looked between them in surprise, but both of their faces were locked with determination.

"It's the only way," Jacen said. "I can help you."

"What are you talking about?" Tenel Ka asked, unconsciously moving between them to protect Jacen from Eriana.

"There is no _fraking_ way I'm doing that, Jacen!" Eriana shouted. Tears beginning to pour down her cheeks, startling Tenel Ka. "Don't you even _dare_ ask me again! Not after the last time!"

"What _is_ it?" Tenel Ka insisted.

"I'm not asking," Jacen said, tears welling up in his own eyes. He glanced at the door, where a lightsaber had been plunged through it and was quickly cutting a hole. "I'm begging. Please. You need to get Tenel Ka out of here. I don't want my kids to grow up as orphans."

Eriana's hands shakily took her helmet from the table beside Jacen. She stepped away and closed her eyes while turning away from them. Tenel Ka felt a change in the other woman as Eriana drew on a torrent of Force energy. The entire galaxy seemed to centre itself around the Jensaarai warrior as she unleashed something within herself unlike anything the former queen had ever sensed. Eriana turned back to look at Jacen with her eyes glowing a brilliant emerald green. The look on her face made Tenel Ka reach for her lightsaber, ready to defend Jacen.

"Frak you, Jacen. You better fight to live with everything you have," Eriana said bitterly as her face disappeared under the helmet. Her lightsabers snapped from her holsters to her hands on her command and her twin golden blades sprang into existence. "I can't survive this without you."

The red Bogan lightsaber completed cutting the hole in the door and, as the plate of metal began to fall, time seemed to stop around Eriana as she took hold of its very existence.

The plate of metal shot back through the hole with blinding speed at just the right time, cutting a Bogan Warrior and the two soldiers standing behind him in half. Eriana followed the plate with a balance of speed and grace, her lightsabers dancing around her and killing the first ten enemies with the deftest of attacks. To her left, down the hallway, a gauntlet of soldiers and warriors awaited.

"What is she doing?" Tenel Ka finally asked.

The first blaster bolt came at Eriana and she caught it with the tip of her lightsaber, knowing exactly where to redirect it to bury it into a power conduit behind the wall, which exploded and took out seven more troopers.

"We need to get this thing out of me," Jacen said. "I'll control the bleeding with the Force, you flatten it so there aren't any hooks."

With dozens of blaster bolts directed at her, she knew exactly the pattern to weave her two blades through to redirect them back at the Bogan Warriors waiting behind the soldiers, who all deflected the bolts right back into her intended targets – the front line soldiers that Eriana knew they would hit.

"Arg!" Jacen grunted as his wife twisted the metal inside him and he applied the Force accordingly.

"Tell me what Eriana is doing," Tenel Ka insisted as she worked. "It will distract you from the pain."

"Eriana's gift is premonition. But so much more. She barely taps into it when she fights, and fighting is the only meditation that helps her control it. That's why we always spar together, to keep it in check."

As the soldiers fell between Eriana and the nineteen remaining Bogan Warriors, she charged into mix. On perfect knowledge, she jumped toward one of the falling soldiers, sprung off his shoulder, and sailed above the warriors, landing in the middle while twisting her entire body in a graceful pirouette with her lightsabers extended to bisect six warriors in an eye blink.

"She was always good at fighting, but we discovered why when we were with the Aing Tii monks learning a way to more accurately predict the future in meditation. Okay, flatten the other side now."

Seven lightsabers struck toward her at the same time, but she jumped, twisting herself upside down in the air to spin on the spot with her lightsabers angled outwards, removing hands and fingers from her attackers. She landed, knowing she was temporarily safe from attack as the enemy lightsaber hilts dropped to the ground, and she flung her twin blades out, guiding them as they spun around her, removing the heads of each of those seven disarmed warriors nearest to her.

"Unleashing her gift broke the dam. When she focused on something, she could see only that one future and how to make it reality. When she doesn't have something to focus on, she sees _every_ future. Okay. This one's going to _really_ hurt. Get a good grip and pull it straight out."

The last six warriors stepped in to attack, but Eriana deftly wove between their attacks, removing limbs and making kill strikes with ease. As the last one fell to the ground, Jacen screamed at the top of his lungs and reality finally caught up to her.

"Okay, great." Jacen said as Tenel Ka examined the chunk of metal she had pulled from his side. He took a second to catch his breath and then continued his narrative. "When she loses that focus…the last time, it took over three months for her to regain control of herself. Seeing so many futures drove her insane."

Jacen rolled up to a sitting position and took stock of himself. With the chunk of metal removed, holding himself together with the Force took most of his concentration. He warily looked up to his wife and nodded as a blood curdling scream echoed through the hall.

" _JACEN!_ "

Jacen drew more on the Force and pulled himself to his feet while still holding his wounds together. He collapsed back against the table, but Tenel Ka slipped an arm around his waist and took his weight on her shoulders.

"Rest, Jacen."

"No, she needs me," Jacen urged his wife as Eriana began screaming with a tortured primal screech that echoed through the hallways. "She can't…control it…without me. I'm…the only…one…who can."

Tenel Ka helped Jacen traverse the carnage of bodies littering the hallway in awe to where Eriana was kneeling on the ground beside her discarded helmet, her hands pressed against her temples as she rocked back and forth. Jacen used the Force to push aside one of the bodies and Tenel Ka helped him kneel down in front of her. He put his hands over hers and pushed his mind into hers. Her eyes opened, still glowing with wild flickers of the emerald blaze, and locked with his.

 _Focus on me,_ Jacen intoned. _Look at my future. Find the best one and lock it in your mind._

 _So many,_ Eriana replied. Her fingers entwined with his and she squeezed them until he thought his would break. She stopped exactly before they did. _So many futures. They're there and not and living and dying and…_

 _Make one happen,_ Jacen interrupted her scattered thoughts, pushing his will against her own. _Focus on a peaceful future. Focus on the one that ends Titan's Empire and brings peace. Own that future._

A rush of images passed between their telepathic connection as Eriana closed her eyes. He felt her presence contract in on itself and coalesce all the wrong futures together into one little ball within her and she threw them away, picking the only one that remained. When she opened her eyes, her eyes were blazing with that emerald fire that had tortured her existence for months and Jacen fell back away from her against one of the bodies she had cut down, not entirely sure what the Force would command her to do to make her new reality happen.

She stood up gracefully and her lightsabers lifted from the floor with her and slipped into her palms with gentle ease, betraying the raging power that Eriana held within her. She pointed back the way they came with the unlit hilt.

"Go that way a hundred metres. Stop for thirty two seconds, and then go left down the corridor for two hundred metres. Pick the seventh escape pod on the right past the second bulkhead and enter the code 2-1-8-3-4. Return to the fleet on bearing 292 mark 8 at 94 percent thrust. Leave in twenty four seconds and you'll survive."

She looked at him with a tortured smile. "Thank you."

Eriana turned and sprinted off without a word, leaving Jacen and Tenel Ka little else to do but follow her direction.

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	13. Chapter 12

The _Solo Quest_ dropped out of hyperspace and Jaina unconsciously twisted the ship through a tight spin to avoid the still-ablaze hull of a mid-sized cruiser that had been gutted by turbolaser fire. Immediately on her new course was another dying ship so Jaina twisted the ship around and fired the ventral repulsors to bounce off it, but the port side still scraped off the star cruiser with a shrill noise that made Jaina's teeth ache. She killed her speed and used maneuvering thrusters to move closer to the first ship she almost hit, hoping the dying hull would mask their energy signature.

"Still a better pilot than me," Ami muttered from the co-pilot's seat. "Sensors coming online now. Looks like a few hundred damaged or destroyed ships."

"Any in fighting shape?"

"Yes and no," Ami said, running a second type of scan. "Looks like a whole bunch of fighters patrolling, but all of the capital ships are pretty banged up on both sides."

"Look at that," Jaina said.

Ami looked up from her display to see one of the Obsidian destroyers several kilometres away, but something looked off.

"Is that?"

"A Victory-class Star Destroyer." Jaina confirmed Ami's suspicions. "Looks like it probably hit near light speed in order to embed itself like that. Have any ships spotted us?"

"No, the fighters are pretty far away. What do we do now?"

"I don't know," Jaina said. "It looks like the battle is over."

The door opened behind the cousins and by the sound of the footsteps HK-47 and Sal had entered the cockpit.

"Wow," Sal said, leaning between the two women to get a better look at the destruction before them. "That's…"

"Welcome to the realities of being a Jedi," Jaina said bitterly. "Makes you wish you were looking into a different life path?"

"Who are they?"

"Looks like the Black Vornskrs and the Bogans," Ami said. "I don't think this was a final stand, but it was close. There has to be thousands of ships worth of wreckage out there. I'm not reading much in the way of power signs, except that big one and a lot of fighter craft."

"Scan for life signs and escape pods," Sal suggested. "I can't believe there aren't any survivors out there. We need to help as many people as we can."

"If those fighters see us and swarm us, we're dead," Jaina argued.

"The Yavin Code says they can't attack evac ships."

"What makes you think they're going to listen to a thousand-year-old code?" Jaina demanded. "They're Bogans. They're probably hunting down escape pods and shooting them."

"All the more reason to help," Sal said. "Ami, start scanning. Whoever we find, we'll pick them up. If we fill the ship we'll go to Bortras and drop them off until we can find help."

"Who put you in charge?" Jaina demanded.

Sal merely smiled at her and winked. "Doesn't matter. We're Jedi. It's what we do."

Despite herself, Jaina couldn't stop herself from smiling back. He was, after all, absolutely right.

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Eriana entered the bridge of the Bogan destroyer without trying to mask her presence. Darth Titan knew she was coming as surely as he had felt the trail of dying warriors she had left in her wake.

"You broke my ship," Darth Titan said to her as she approached. "I didn't think you were brave enough to do it yourself."

"Frak you, Kyp Durron," Eriana said without knowing what she was saying until she said it. Her lightsabers were on and she jumped across the bridge in one giant leap. Completely caught off guard by her lightning-fast flying side kick, he flew several metres through the air to slam against the rounded panoramic view screen that covered the walls of the bridge. From the impact, the omnipresent mask he wore fell off to reveal the face of the Jedi-turned-traitor. The entire bridge crew stopped to watch as the invading woman advanced on their leader with her twin golden lightsabers and not an ounce of fear in her step.

Kyp activated his own red bladed lightsaber and stepped up to intercept her attack. She flicked her left-hand lightsaber into a reverse grip and batted at him with her right, deflecting his advances as he drove her backwards toward the middle of the bridge. At the midpoint of the centre walkway, Eriana bound her blade against his and looked at him over the X.

"You betrayed the Jedi. You were Krayt's pawn from the beginning. That's how you survived our assault."

"The Jedi are easy to deceive," Kyp argued as he applied the Force to the bind, trying to overpower her, but she applied her own strength in response. "Darth Krayt helped me escape so he could train me without suspicion."

"Octa died from your betrayal."

Kyp attempted to kick her as a distraction, but she deflected it and shoved him backwards with the Force. He slid back several metres from the force of the blow, but held his footing.

"After I kill you, I will hunt down _every_ Jedi!" Kyp spat. "They are not _worthy_ of the power of the Bogan Empire!"

"I'm not that easy to kill," Eriana said calmly, holding her arms wide in a gesture of invitation. "Bring it on, Kyp Durron, you little bitch orphan of the Jedi."

" _I will destroy you!_ " Kyp screamed, channeling his rage into his voice. The deck plate around Eriana began to buckle from his scream and equipment behind her exploded, but, to Kyp's befuddlement, she stood in the middle of his sonic attack like the eye of the storm, using the Force to gently part the concussive power of the sound waves.

"When might that happen?" Eriana asked with a gentle smirk.

She advanced gracefully, almost lazily, and wove her right lightsaber in a soft wind milling figure eight pattern that drove Kyp further and further back as he tried deflecting her blows and counter attacking with little success. Despite his best attempts, his every blow met with a deft deflection, and his every block stopped her advances just barely from injuring him, but it was soon clear to him that he was as outmatched as a child fighting an adult.

"What you don't understand," Eriana said softly, changing her cyclonic attack to a quick strike to his left arm, his right leg, and followed by lopping off his right hand, lightsaber along with it. After a spin kick to his chest, she followed his fall to the deck plate, finally using her left lightsaber to point at his throat while holding her right lightsaber ready to cut his legs off if he decided to try a leg sweep. "Is that you lost the second I walked into this room."

Kyp grunted something unintelligible, but a kick from Eriana's boot across his face broke his jaw, silencing him for the last time.

"Simply by keeping you here, I won."

Kyp's eyes went wide when he realized what the sense of impending doom he had been feeling since her ship had crashed into his was all about. Looking over her shoulder at the panoramic display, he saw the reactor of her ship exploding and the secondary explosions from the Victory Star Destroyer's unspent proton torpedoes. Violent shakes knocked everyone around Eriana to the ground as the _Obsidian_ began to shake violently from cascading explosions that ripped through the hull, but the Black Vornskr leader stood her ground, guarding her defeated opponent from any means of escape to guarantee his eradication.

"There is no death," Eriana said with a smile as fire ripped into the bridge behind her. "There is the Force."

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Tenel Ka watched through the viewport of the escape pod as the _Obsidian_ destroyer was engulfed with fire and blew apart. She felt the deaths of thousands of people ripple through the Force, but was most saddened that she could no more differentiate any of them from Eriana. As the flames faded away, she looked over at her husband, resting peacefully in a healing trance and completely unaware that one of his closest friends had just passed into the Force. She slowly came to realize how important Eriana had been to their lives and, oblivious that their escape pod was being picked up by a ship, she was crying in a manner completely unfit for a queen.

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Hey, farmboy."

The teasing, sweet voice pulled Luke's attention away from the second most beautiful sight – the sunset of Zonoma Sekot – to the most beautiful sight in the galaxy. Leaning heavily on the doorframe with a cane in hand was a red-headed woman with brilliant green eyes. She was much older than when he had married her almost twenty years before, but the sight of her was still enough to bring butterflies to his stomach.

"Hey, yourself," Luke replied. He looked at her face and saw only a trace of the injuries that she bore when they had rescued her from captivity. As, beautiful as she was to him, a cold fist grabbed his heart at the sight of her when he remembered that the last time they had spoken, the words they shared had been some of the worst either of them had ever said. He froze, trying to figure out what to say next, but she beat him to it.

"How's Jysella?"

"Fine," Luke said. "She certainly takes after her father. Another bacta treatment and she'll be cleared for active duy."

Mara nodded and shifted her weight onto the cane and used it to help herself to the railing of the balcony overlooking the Zonomian skyline. They both stared at the setting sun in silence, a simmering of emotions between them.

"You came for me," Mara finally broke the silence with a voice devoid of emotion. "You were hurt and angry and I thought you'd never want to see me again. But you learned how to walk and you came for me."

Luke swallowed hard and gently placed his hand on hers. She flinched slightly, but didn't recoil.

"I was angry with…too many people," Luke admitted. "It took me a while to realize that I was most angry at myself. When I heard you had been taken prisoner I... I just wanted you back. None of what we were fighting about was important anymore."

Mara wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her cane hand, but still avoided his gaze.

"I should have told you about Ami a long time ago."

"It doesn't matter anymore," Luke squeezed her hand a bit tighter and she finally looked at him. "She's a great kid. Both of them are. And they're both so much like you."

Mara laughed despite her tears and finally smiled. "I don't know if that makes anyone great. I'm probably the biggest screw-up of a mother there ever was."

Luke finally pulled her into a hug and shook his head. They let their presences in the Force intertwine, allowing unspoken words and feelings to flow freely, both finding the strength they had missed in each other.

[[[[#]]]]]]]](=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jacen awoke with the taste of Bacta in his mouth and a gentle tingling sensation over his entire body under the light white hospital gown someone had put him in. The phantom pain of the hole that had been torn through his side still made his spine shiver, but he knew he was well on his way to being fully healed. He sat up slowly and the first thing he noticed was that he was back aboard his ship, lying on the bed he had last left his sister strapped to. The second thing he noticed was the chronometer on the wall – nearly a day had passed since he had entered his healing trance.

He smiled at the third thing he noticed, a beautiful red-headed woman who jumped up from her chair and leapt on top of him from several metres away. He pulled Tenel Ka into a tight hug as she landed on top of him and he fell back, smiling at the joy of having her in his embrace. She finally released him, squirming her arms out from under him so she could sit up, straddling him. She looked down at him with a sad smile and he returned it, taking her hands in his. He knew what Eriana was setting out to do when she left them behind, and he knew her too well to suspect that she may have tried to avoid finishing the job.

"How did we do?"

Tenel Ka shook her head, her Dathomirian warrior braids dancing around her sad face. "Ami and Sal were able to acquire the evidence on Synergy with Jaina's assistance. Proof of the corruption of the LinkCom devices and the Bogan Empire, combined with the death of Darth Titan, has shattered the Bogan regime. Entire fleets and star systems are defecting to join the Jedi Coalition. Coruscant is expected to be taken within the hour by a joint Black Vornskr and Jedi Coalition fleet. We appear to have won."

"Nobody wins a war," Jacen said. "We all end up losing something important to us."

Tenel Ka squeezed his hands and shifted over to sit beside him, allowing him to join her sitting at the edge of the bed. She looked at the bedside table beside her husband, and he followed her gaze to see Eriana's discarded helmet sitting there. Tenel Ka must have grabbed it after he had passed out. He pulled her into a sideways hug, this time with less enthusiasm, but more emotional support.

"She fought for what she believed in," Tenel Ka said, trying to hold back her tears. "Her sacrifice may have saved us all."

Jacen desperately reached out into the Force, pushing his edge of perception as far as it could go, reaching into the depths of everything he possibly could. Eriana was trained just as he was by Qui-Gon and Yoda. In all likelihood…

Jacen laughed softly and squeezed his wife a little tighter. Some clouds, indeed, had a silver lining.


	14. Epilogue

61 years after the Battle of Yavin

"No, forget the Force," Jedi Master Jacen Solo said to his classroom, waving a hand dismissively. "You have to look _beyond_ it."

"But, Master," one student complained. "You said the Force is in everything."

"Yes," Jacen said as he picked up a fist-sized metal sphere in one hand. "But don't think of it like the way the Jedi look at it. You have to look _beyond_ what you know. That's why you're here, right? I mean, reach out with the Force right now. Can any of you sense how I do this?"

The sphere disappeared from one hand and appeared instantaneously in the other. By the looks of shock on the faces of his entire class, he knew none of them could identify how he did it.  
"It's a trick!" one student, an excitable young Rodian exclaimed.

"That trick saved our lives several times," a voice said from the back of the class. All of the students turned to face the older blonde woman standing at the back. None of the students had sensed her enter the room and she smiled as their eyes all went wide with the realization of who had interrupted their lesson with the legendary Jedi Master Jacen Solo. Jacen smiled at her, noting that the streak of grey in her long blond hair seemed to be a bit wider than the last time he saw her, but her sharp features and brilliant green eyes were as timeless as the day he met her on Susevfi thirty-two years ago.

"Class, pair up and go meditate in the gardens for a bit about what I just showed you," Jacen suggested. "Try to use a friend to help you look deeper into the Force."

As the class filtered out, Jacen sat on the corner of his desk and smiled at his guest.

"Coming back to gloat, again?" Jacen asked her, tossing the ball across the room to her.

Eriana snatched the ball out of the air easily and laughed. She crossed the classroom and took a seat on one of the student desks directly in front of Jacen. "I can't believe that's still bugging you after all these years. You still haven't figured it out how I did it, have you?"

"No," Jacen said with forced grumpiness. "If I knew you'd withhold that from me for this long I never would've turned the ship around to pick you off of Bortras. Come on, how _did_ you escape that explosion? I'm pretty sure it was _something_ I taught you."

"I'll tell you… some day."

"That's what you've been saying for twenty years. If you keep this up, we'll be sharing secrets on our death beds."

"How are your classes going?" Eriana asked, deliberately changing the topic. "Selling an advanced Jedi Training facility on Naboo to the Council wasn't easy."

"So difficult they had to send the Master of the Order to check up on me after, what, a week of operation?" Jacen asked, hiding a snicker. "Admit it; it was an easy sell opening up the Skywalker-Solo academy for advanced students. We're a family library of knowledge."

"It wasn't as easy as you'd think," Eriana said. "I mean, you're an old fart whose last day in the field involved getting chopped up on Titan's command ship by shrapnel almost a quarter century ago. Your sister may have been one of the hottest pilots around, but she still hasn't gained much credibility since she went off the deep end."

"She's married with twins and has stayed sober since Tenel Ka and I rescued her," Jacen groaned. "Some people never know how to let go."

"I don't disagree," Eriana said neutrally. "I also had a struggle getting certain Jedi Masters to look past the fact that your eighty-year-old uncle is still having problems walking. You'd think they would've afforded him more respect for his contributions to the Jedi Order."

"At least we're safe," Jacen said with an air of finality and slid off his desk. He collected his case of notes and slung the strap over his shoulder, looking up at her as if to see if she would challenge him. "Retiring from active Jedi service was the best decision my family ever made."

"I can't argue with that," Eriana said, hopping off the desk and following him out of the classroom into the bright cloudless daylight. "Thankfully we haven't had a credible threat to the Republic since the Bogan Army folded and Black Sun was wiped out again."

"Twenty years of peace," Jacen said wistfully as they walked through the hedges surrounding the garden. "Who knew it would take a pirate organization joining the Republic and a rag-tag bunch of beat up old Jedi going planet to planet brokering peace to make that a possibility?"

"The government is more stable now than it ever was," Eriana agreed. They sat down on the grass facing each other and held hands, letting the Force flow between them as they had since they had begun training together half their lives ago. "I think we may just be set for a new golden age."

"Well, whatever you're doing, it's working," Jacen said, using the Force to convey an empathic smile. "I just wish you could visit more often."

"Me, too," Eriana said. "You have no idea how much I miss having you around, especially now that they've got me leading the Jedi Council. How's the family?"

"Good," Jacen said. "Really good. Anakin just passed his trials with Aunt Mara. He's considering signing up for service with the Jedi to travel and gain some experience. I think it would be good for him. Allaya is finishing up her last year at Theed University in hyperdrive engineering – much to Jaina's excitement. The Republic just opened a hyperdrive research facility in New Centrif that she got an internship with, so she'll be moving out soon. Tenel Ka is helping with my advanced combat classes – her variation of Vaapad is really something. I think you'll like the challenge."

"Excellent!"

"Thanks, I'm excited," Jacen said with a mildly embarrassed smile, somewhat guilty for succumbing to his pride as a father and husband. "Uncle Luke is, as you know, teaching some of the advanced Jedi techniques, but his spine has been giving him a hard time. He uses the Force to compensate, but you can see it's getting to him. He spends more time in a hover chair than not. Now that Aunt Mara has finished with Anakin she's looking at taking on Jaina's twins as apprentices."

"Poor Mara," Eriana said with a snicker. "What would possess her to take on two apprentices at her age?"

"She's a warrior at heart," Jacen returned her smile. "Ben and Erin's little guy is eight now."

"Eight?! They grow up so fast."

"Tell me about it. I'm dreading when Anakin or Allaya come home and say 'Surprise!'" Jacen said with a groan. "Ami is moving closer to Theed University so she can finally go back to school now that her son's old enough to start his undergrad. She had to promise her son that she'll pretend he isn't there, but she's really excited. The whole family is."

"How's your mom?"

Jacen frowned and shook his head. Eriana felt his presence darken, so she gave him the emotional equivalent to a hug. "Thanks. She's…she has her good days and her bad days. She still misses Dad. The disease seems to have recessed her memories back to when he was still alive. But she's always happy to see us when we visit. She always remembers me and Jaina, but sometimes she calls me Han."

"That's something, at least."

"So, what are you really doing here?" Jacen finally asked. "It isn't the place of the Master of the Jedi to check up on a satellite campus unexpectedly."

"Fine, you got me," Eriana admitted. "Something did come up. There's a confirmed sighting of Darth Krayt on Moraband. The mission may or may not benefit from one of the most powerful retired Jedi Masters of the current generation to help put him down. That is, if this Jedi Master isn't too rusty from sitting around here on Naboo teaching some of the biggest smartass younglings we can send him…"

A slow smile spread across Jacen's face and a twinkle came to his eye as he squeezed her hands. "I think I can convince this old Jedi Master you speak of to dust off his lightsabers for one more mission."

The End.

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story arc, sticking with me over the last 9+ years of sporadic postings. I've learned a lot from writing over this time, but I'm going to hang up my hat on this story arc at this time and see what the new Star Wars chronology has in store. There may be a possibility of some other stuff in this timeline, possibly in around the time right after the YV war, but no promises. I have some other projects to finish up, so I'm going to focus on that stuff for now. After that, I don't know. The sky's the limit, right? May the Force be with you!

p.s. Please be kind and review...it may be the last reviews I read for a while.


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